


Whatever Happened To Harry Potter?

by MystyVander



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Creature Fic, M/M, Post-Hogwarts, Post-War, Punk Harry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-23
Updated: 2014-06-26
Packaged: 2018-02-05 23:08:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 48,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1835572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MystyVander/pseuds/MystyVander
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five years after the battle against Voldemort and the Death Eaters ends and it seems as though the whole Wizarding World is finally at ease, everybody living happily. Except for the fact that their Saviour cannot be found and has been presumed dead ever since he went missing after the Death Eaters trial on the following day of the Final Battle. Where has Harry Potter gone to? Is he dead? Did he runaway? Why? What is he doing now? Some even believe he has gone into recession only to become the fallen Dark Lord's predecessor. All of these questions need to be answered and only one young man is anxious enough to answer them, but he forgets to ask himself the most important question of all; Why does he even care about Harry Potter?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Invisible Spectator

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Anything you recognise is unfortunately not mine. 
> 
> This is another cross-post from 2010. It is not HBP or DH compliant.

Even in the evening it was too hot outside as the last day of July came to its end. The three kids were tightly tucked in their beds, the laundry finished, the dishes done; Hermione had left all the windows ajar in the house, hoping to catch a breeze from time-to-time. She pulled her mousy, brown hair into a loose bun after she put on her night gown. It was light blue with a white floral pattern, she pulled a heavy brown housecoat overtop.

It was nearing midnight and they had a big day tomorrow, she felt the weariness of running around weighing her down and she yawned largely. She could not, however, sleep without her husband beside her.

She teetered slowly down the spiraling wooden staircase, each step creaking as she went. The walls were painted a brilliant red and lined with baby photographs and those of their Hogwarts days at school. Not one of them contained Harry.

This did not make her pause as she walked down the stairs, for these Harry-less pictures had been in their house for a total of five years now. Five long years.

Hermione found herself following a lead of light, seeping in from the cramped living room. There were knitting utensils, their mantle place, coffee table and seating arrangements all shoved into one small room. "Ron?" she whispered softly, she knew the state she would find the certain redhead in.

Like the five years before, there he sat in sobs as he flipped slowly through the pages of a scrapbook containing all Harry Potter memories, mostly pictures of them at Hogwarts together. Hermione sat beside her husband and embraced him tightly, she felt tears threaten her cheeks as well but held them back for Ron's sake as they glanced silently through the photos.

When they were finished, Ron angrily stood up and threw the scrapbook across the room, it almost came out of its bindings. Hermione sat quietly on the couch, "Why the  _hell_  is he doing this to us?! What did we do to deserve this?" he yelled, and in the distance their two year-old son woke up, wailing. Hermione jolted upright and began a quick ascent up the stairs and into the infant's room, picking Remus up in her arms and cradling him gently.

She was humming softly and turned around to see Ron leaning in the doorway, his face downcast. "I'm sorry, love," he whispered, hands in his pockets and tears still fresh on his face.

"Don't apologize, but it has to end sometime, Ronald," Hermione said haughtily. The redhead nodded solemnly, "I know it's not easy, but we've got to let go. Wherever Harry is, if he's alive, he would have wanted us to let go," she sullenly said. The memory of their raven-haired friend had haunted then for years, and she wasn't going to allow it to destroy their chance at a happy, war-free life.

"Yeah, you're right," he shrugged, "I just don't think I can do it yet, I still need time. He was my best mate for seven years," Ron sighed and then turned his back to his wife and child, "I'll see you in bed," he dragged his feet across the wooden floor and down the corridor. Hermione heard the bedroom door softly open and then close again. She sighed and continued humming to beautiful baby Remus, with hazel eyes and curly red hair that stuck to his scalp. This is why they had to let go, because they had a family they needed to take care of.

Out in the Weasley yard, just a few roads down from The Burrow - the original Weasley homestead, floated an invisible figure that had followed the couples short quarrel. He had been there the entire night and much of the afternoon, watching the family go about their business and then sadly looking into Ronald Weasley's breakdown that occurred every year on the same day. The day of Harry Potter's birth, and also the last day of the War. And every year the day after that, Hogwarts hosted, to Hermione's and Professor McGonagall's planning, a celebration of the end of the long War against the Dark Lord in which they prevailed with the cost of many lives, most importantly the life of their Saviour.

Suddenly, the Invisible figure heard a rustle in the nearby woods. He quietly lowered his broom closer to the ground and went over to it, being paranoid though it was probably a small raccoon. Instead, another male figure in a long black cloak and platinum blonde hair, unmistakably so, stood up from his hiding place and began to quickly trot off towards the road.

The Invisible Figure immediately followed at a safe distance, alongside the dirt road of the familiar face until he reached a car which was seemingly abandoned on the side of the country street. He got inside, started the engine and drove off at a great speed. The Invisible one followed as quickly as possible, urging the broom forwards with all its speed as they went through a few towns and villages. An hour passed by and then they came upon the city of Cambridge, the car drove to a residential neighbourhood and parked in front of the largest house on the street, though still a two storey house with a basement.

Invisible followed the blonde man through the windows of the darkened house, there was one propped open on the upper floor that he quietly slipped in through. He held his broom tight to his body and tip-toed through the upstairs, just as he reached the stairs the blonde man whisked past him without a second thought. He then went into what was seemingly the bathroom and in a moment, the water to the shower was turned on.

Since the way was clear to explore, that is what the Invisible man did. He explored the rooms with a slight head rush, his heart was beating loudly inside of his chest as magical energy surged through his body that begged to get out. He wouldn't allow any of it to escape as he quickly looked through the house in the normal looking, up scale Muggle neighbourhood in Manchester.

Then there came a room, it was upstairs and the last room at the end of the narrow hallway. With curiosity, he opened the door quietly and slipped inside. Behind the door stood something that made him gasp audibly, to his dismay.

The walls of the large study were covered in moving photographs, articles, notes, pages ripped from textbooks, white boards with writings of places and dates on them, peoples names on large blackboard lists with little side notes, and most of all a large timeline that took up the entirety of the east wall, save for a window that broke the timeline in half. The Invisible man heard the water turn off and realized he hadn't much time, he quickly rushed over to a desk in the far corner of the study cluttered with newspapers and pieces of parchments dabbed in ink scribblings. He took a fresh piece of parchment and grabbed the quill, dipping it in its ink bottle he wrote a quick note before running to the closed window and propping it open. He slipped out on his now mounted broom and sat hovering outside, leaving the window purposefully ajar.

The blonde man finished his shower and wrapped a housecoat around his naked body, his moping wet hair fell around his pointed featured face down to his chin in different lengths, accenting his beauty. He thought he heard a rustling in the far end room and with curiosity he walked down towards it to find the door slightly open, and when he stepped inside the papers all taped and tacked to the wall were blowing lightly due to the breeze of the window.

He never opened the window in this room, especially not this room. He sighed with a frown, if there were any danger that would threaten him the wards would've gone off by now. Instead, there was only silence as he stood in the centre of his most prized possessions; his efforts of five years.

A breeze picked up outside and blew into the room, sending a shiver down his spine. A piece of parchment fluttered from the desk to the floor and the blonde man made his way over to pick it up. And then there scratched on the piece of parchment was the undeniable chicken scratch writing of the main attraction of his room, silver eyes went wide.

"I will find you, Harry," Draco Malfoy whispered into the night as he walked towards the window and closed it gently, looking out momentarily at the faraway stars.

Clutched in his hand was written; ' _I'm closer than you think,'_


	2. Memories

It was mid-January, the holidays had passed uneventful as per usual. Harry had spent them at the local bar, with the other loners mostly aged at least in their forties. He now found himself mounting his broom and Invisibility Cloak not during his usual time, on his birthday of every year. He wasn't comfortable with magical energy any more, it gave him headaches and made him feel weary. If he felt it in large bursts, he nearly fainted sometimes as his own power begged to get out of him but he forced it back down. He refused to let it free.

Still, his curiosity that had begun last July only grew in his thoughts within six month, so he travelled to to Cambridge to a residential, Muggle neighbourhood. He crept in the unlocked window, how trusting people were now that the War was over, into the room he had been before. Harry stopped as he landed, hoping his feet hadn't made sound enough to alarm the inhabitant whom he knew was home by the lights left on in the lower floor. He listened, and listened and then heard a conversation drift to his ears.

"You would not  _believe_  who I saw today in London!" an excited not-so-masculine male voice began, slightly accented. Harry's breath caught for a moment.

"Who?" Draco's unamused voice responded, there was a scratching of chairs and then small other ruffling occurred.

" _The_ Toni Amillia," the other voice slowly exaggerated. The response, Harry did not expect.

Draco all but screeched, "Are you kidding me?! Tell me what happened! Tell me absolutely everything you saw!" the two went on talking and Harry found it safe to scan the room for any differences made.

He wanted to figure out what the blonde old schoolmate of his had made in terms of progress to his search for Harry Potter. It was strange, once again, being around magic and it made his head hurt but also to be in a room made around himself was even more obscure.

Harry traced his eyes across everything, his recent sightings (which the last one had been four years ago boarding a plane out of Ireland, though it was eventually summed up as a look-a-like), articles and what have you. But there was an energy radiating from the corner of the room near the desk, a new addition to the room and the only one in six months. It was a Pensieve, and Harry felt weak kneed as he edged towards it. As he peered inside, he felt choked by what he saw. Images, memories, swirled around restlessly and all of them contained his face in them at least once. Some of them were inconsequential, but some were of larger events. Harry caught a glimpse of his and Draco's duel in Second Year, their meeting at Madame Malkin's, the refusal of friendship, and all of their various meetings through-out the many years. Harry was amazed, and even more creeped out than he already was. Why was Draco Malfoy so obsessed with his disappearance, and him in general? What was it that changed a school day rivalry into _t_ _his_?

Harry felt intrigued, he wanted to go inside. So he quickly leant his ear to the door, he heard one of the boys pouring glasses of presumably an alcoholic drink and then converge into livid conversation once again. He felt it was safe, so he walked over to the Pensieve and dipped his head under way. ' _Like riding a bicycle,'_ _  
_

Harry's world came crashing down on him, power begged to be used inside of his body but he was doing something much more important at that moment, it was easier to ignore the physical pleas. He was swimming in flashes of moments, they flew past him until he finally latched onto one. There was little to no colour in the memory, the narrow corridor of wood was darkened, shadowed even though Harry remembered it was the afternoon still in the middle of the summer. There were no windows, everything seemed dire. Harry turned over to see a seventeen year-old emotionless Draco huddled against the wall; he didn't want to be caught as he listened carefully to an argument occurring just in the other hall.

Harry's eyes went wide at the intense sight of Draco's platinum hair, his silvery eyes were squinted slightly, "Ronald!" Hermione's voice screeched full of sceptically. 

"You said he tried to murder you," the redhead responded in a low hiss, so nobody nearby could hear them, but Draco did.

"You weren't there, you two just cannot understand. I can't explain my reasoning, but can't you just trust me?" Harry's calm voice asked.

"We've trusted you enough," it was Hermione who harshly spoke.

"Yeah, we still don't know what really happened two nights ago," Ron urged, his voice intrusive and aggressive.

"You don't need to," Harry then shrugged off his friends and his feet were heard coming closer.

"He's Malfoy, scum of the Earth," Ron spat quietly, under seething breath. Harry kept walking and then turned the corner and nodded his head in Draco's direction, his face still and cold as stone.

"Follow me," Harry said simply, his hands in his pocket as he continued down the darkened corridor. He knew Ron and Hermione wouldn't follow, the other Harry knew what he was thinking - he had also replayed this moment in his head countless times, but this memory due to the Pensieve seemed so much more real. Especially from the skewed perspective. 

The two walked down the corridor until they met another curve in it, ending at one of those one person elevators. Harry then turned to face a furrowed brow Draco and the other Harry watched intently from between the two, only a slight distance away. 

"What do you want?" Harry drawled.

"Why did you do it? Why did you save me, after all I  _did_  try to kill you," Malfoy whispered.

Harry shoved his hands into his pockets and shrugged, his eyes were sullen and downcast to the floor. He looked so broken, so empty, "Yes, but you failed. If there is no real intention behind the Killing Curse, it will not work. So I know you didn't want to kill me, you just had to try because it was your duty," he responded thickly, but with what emotion neither Harry nor Draco could decipher.

"Potter, you are being a complete fool," the blonde hissed, he was getting angry, he didn't like this although it was a better alternative to Azkaban Prison - where all the other Death Eaters were being sent that moment.

"How so? Can't you just bugger off and be grateful that you're not going to be locked away your whole life? Go on back to your Mother, she's probably worried," Harry's voice was calm and dull, he rocked on and off the balls of his feet now as if to distract himself.

"What the hell do you care about my Mother? Why the hell do you care about _me_? I made your life living hell for seven years! I hate you, you hate me!" Draco dare not raise his voice, but his anger was portrayed just as well either way. 

"You never seemed like you really wanted to,"

"What the bloody hell are you playing at?!" Draco yelled now, his fists were clenched. footsteps were echoing down the other corridor now and they knew they wouldn't be alone for long. Harry sighed, lowering his head more and then almost reluctantly put his arms around Draco's back and hugged him lightly for a moment until backing himself up. Draco's face was of pure dumbstruck, utter confusion.

"We are a lot more alike than you think, Draco," and with that Harry turned on his heel and exited into the elevator. The other Harry, watching intently, was surprised when the memory didn't end there. What more was there to this?

Ron and Hermione came bustling in, both scowling, "Where'd he go?" Ron snapped towards Malfoy.

Draco shrugged and began walking away, "In there," he nodded his head to the elevator and turned his back to the two.

"Who do you think you are? What did you do to Harry, some kinda dark spell? The Imperius Curse?" the redhead questioned, Draco barely faltered in his steps away from them. 

"Why?" he merely responded.

"Why? Why!? Because he would never in his bleeding right mind save _you_!" Ron growled, Hermione was slightly whimpering beside him. She was feeling rightfully overwhelmed. The Death Eater trials just ended, so many of whom she knew were imprisoned even if she knew they deserved it, they were still mourning their loved ones, they were constantly fighting with Harry - or at least Ron was - she couldn't handle much more emotional pressure. Who knew winning a war could be so overwhelming. 

"Maybe he isn't in his right mind," and with that Harry followed Draco as the memory around him began to fade, things became blurry and then disappeared. He was brought into full awareness outside of the Pensieve and suddenly felt himself needing to leave Draco Malfoy's house immediately, not only because the wave of nausea that began to overtake him.

Harry returned home, in his small apartment cramped full of things he never really recognized as his own. There wasn't a hint of magic in his place, except for some of his old things stashed neatly away in a triple locked, steel chest buried deep inside of his bedroom closet - the same place he put his Invisibility Cloak and Firebolt, the only magical objects he used in five years.

The living room was bleak, with a tacky floral couch that always seemed dusty, it sat in front of a television used primarily for Muggle news, sports on Sundays, and watching DVDs. Harry would occasionally have some friends over for a few rounds and watch the football, american football, or baseball games depending on the season. There was an array of books, all Muggle, shoved in a disorderly fashion onto three bookshelves behind the couch - there were rare paintings nailed to the cream coloured walls, and a few of Harry's own scribbles tick-tacked beside them, in mock imitation of the floral prints and landscapes with his own morbid twists.

There was a small kitchen, which the brunette rarely used, with a rounded wooden table and four creaky chairs which were barely sat upon. There was also a CD player, CDs piled beside it on the counter by numerous bands. Then there was the bathroom, with all the bare essentials and never yet cleaned, it smelt of moulded water. Harry didn't mind any of this, or the mess in the bedroom where sheets, blankets, pillows, books and drawings were completely askew everywhere. There were two windows on either side of his mattresses on top of each other on the floor, they looked outward onto the gloomy streets of a rainy town two hours from London.

This was Harry's home and he was more than happy with it as the late night rain began to fall.

* * *

 

Draco smiled into the others lips, they felt wet and salty against his own softer ones. He enjoyed this; his hands were exploring the others familiar back, falling down and lightly groping the rounded buttocks. He groaned and detached his mouth, stuffing his nose in the shaggy brunette head and smelled deeply. He always loved other peoples smells, especially if they used good shampoo. And Nathaniel  _always_  used good shampoo.

"Mmm...can we maybe go upstairs?" Nathaniel purred, he grabbed Draco's behind and locked his hand in the blonde, silken hair. He pushed himself closer to the other man, his lower back thrust off of the counter top that he was being pushed against. Draco only answered by closing their mouths together again, feeling the luscious tongue twirling against his own. Both of their lips tasted strongly of brandy wine, having drunk two bottles full. The two best friends only did this when they got to drinking this much together and it was never a bad ending, either.

Yet, after they had fooled around and were both physically satisfied, Draco would sneak out of his own bedroom as Nathaniel crashed into sleep. He would steal away into the only private room in his house, the ones all visitors knew not to enter.

So he did that night, ignoring his findings and newspaper clippings on the wall Draco sighed as he fell down in his desk chair. He took the warmed Firewhiskey out of the desk drawer and sighed as he poured it into a cleaned crystalline cup, he sipped slowly. As the minutes dragged on, Draco felt something different that night after engaging with Nathaniel, he just didn't feel right. Something crawled underneath of his skin, it was negatively tantalizing his brain and he didn't know what it was.

The following day Draco found himself sitting in a crowded cafe, people huddled close around their hot cups of latte's and java. His eyes were intent upon one of this fashion idols, but his mind was wandering elsewhere and every once and awhile he would have to be brought back into the real world by the light touch of Nathaniel's hand on his leg.

"Yes, well, my associates have been to your establishment and I can say that I am rather impressed with what you have done with the current public view of fashion," the older gentleman spoke with a thick French accent, his hair was long, black and pulled into a loose ponytail and his eyes were of a light hazel. He wore clothes that were more expensive than most of the people in the cafe combined, not including his jewellery.

"We appreciate that very much, Mr Amillia-"

"Yes, yes of course you do," he flippantly responded to Nathaniel. All of a sudden, Draco stood up.

Through the light snow fall, there was a wisp of raven-hair. But something was different, the figure that was wrapped tight in a leather, chain bound jacket adorned no glasses but had the unmistakable marking upon his forehead, though faded and mostly covered by fringe. One thought coursed through Draco's obsessed mind; Harry.

"Excuse me, sir, Nathaniel," Draco nodded to both of them and grabbed his long buttoned jacket off his chair and without waiting for a response ran out into the brisk winter wind. Draco looked in all directions of the crowded street and saw no one. He then changed his attention to the shop in which he had seen the man exit. Of all places, it was a small town outside of Cambridge, not far from where he lived. It was a place painted black and rimmed in crimson, the small window had fancy script reading; 'Sins of Skin'. He was rather curious about this place, he pulled his jacket tighter to his body and made his way into the shop.

As he walked inside he crinkled his nose up, it smelled thickly of sanitizer. Draco observed his surroundings. The walls were plastered with what looked like detailed sketches of many different images, there were also pictures of ordinary people lined across the wall smiling and hanging their arms around one another, or cheering at pubs. There sat a lady with golden dreadlocks and spaced ear piercings, a tribal tattoo crept up her neck which was adorned with hemp jewellery and her hazel eyes were lined with dark eye-liner. Draco raised his eyebrow at her at first, he would never understand styles like this and he had certainly never come across them in the Wizarding World.

"Can I help you?" she drawled unamused, her eyes looked up from a book she was reading as she sat cross-legged in front of a brightly lit laptop. There was a glass counter beside her, filled with piercings. Draco realized what kind of a place he was in, he looked towards the staircase to his right, that must be the parlour area. He had never been in one of these places, but he wasn't so thick that he didn't know what it was.

"Ah, yeah, I..." he cut himself off as he neared to the pictures of random people hanging on the wall. Most of the photographs, all still and Muggle, had one thing in common. A familiar, but strangely different looking, Harry James Potter.

Draco's breath caught in his throat, his head began reeling, he knew the secretary was talking to him and looking oddly but he couldn't coherently process what she was saying to him. He looked at Harry, his eyebrow and ears pierced, his jet black hair still messy, fell down to his chin. His clothing was of such strange apparel, usually black and morbid, sometimes fancied up with ties. This was Harry Potter now?

"Uh, sorry about that I kind of drifted off..." Draco slowly began, his silver eyes never being taken off of the photographs, "I was wondering, who is this?" he pointed at one of the pictures, unmistakably Harry.

"That? That's Sin," the girl shrugged her mesh covered shoulders, flipping the next page of her book, "Listen, man, want an appointment or something? He's out sick for the rest of the day, had to rebook. You here for a tattoo or a piercing?"

"Uhm," Draco panicked, he couldn't let any opportunity slide when it came to Harry, "This _Sin_ guy, what is his real name, may I ask?"

"He doesn't particularly like giving out..."

"I promise not to tell," his eyes snapped over to her and twinkled, she only rolled her own.

"James Evans," she spat out, darting back down to look at her book, "Now if you'd like an appointment tell me for what and leave your name and when,"

"Uh, Nathaniel Rose and I was wondering if you did tattoo cover-ups or something?" Draco had no idea what he was doing, he appreciated his own improvisation. 

"Let me see," she ordered, tearing her eyes from the book and lazily standing up. Draco nervously pulled up his left sleeve, revealing The Dark Mark faded on his forearm. She raised her eyebrow, "Yeah, he can figure something out to do with that, when?"

"As soon as possible," Draco stuttered out quickly, pushing his sleeve back down as he was always ashamed of showing his mark of crazed man, even if she didn't know what it meant.

"Tomorrow at four then, we close at six so you'll most likely be our last for the day," she muttered, scribbling it down on what looked like a schedule, "See you then," and with that she was once again distracted by her book. Draco took one more glance at the wall of photographs, placing Harry in his mind before reluctantly leaving the shop. His head was reeling, he needed to get home.

As he returned to the Muggle cafe, Toni Amillia was no longer there and Nathaniel was impatiently awaiting his arrival, "What, where did he go?" Draco asked, concerned about their newest client.

"He had to run, but he wants to make our shop his official supplier," Nathaniel smiled brightly, though annoyance was still clear in his eyes.

"Honestly? That's fantastic...what's wrong with you?" Draco snipped, he knew his best friend was feeling slightly off by his unease and he poured out bits of Muggle change onto the cafe table, readying to leave.

"What's wrong with me? What about you, Malfoy?" Nathaniel spat and then threw on his coat to exit the cafe. Draco rolled his eyes and quickly followed, a few heads looking after them.  
  
As they got into Draco's car, the blonde revved up the engine and began the drive through the light snow back to Cambridge, "Nate, what is wrong?" the blonde coaxed the pouting twenty one year-old.

"You," he spat back, "You just use me for a nice fuck all the time, don't you? You don't even consider my feelings, do you?! Do you even know how I feel about you Draco, nope! And then in the middle of the most important clientèle conversations you just up and leave, for no reason! What the hell was that? I was surprised that Mr Amillio didn't drop us right then and there!"

"That was none of your business," Draco defended icily, "Plus, we are just friends. We have gone over this before, it can never be anything more because I cannot like you in that way. I do not, I am preoccupied otherwise with more important issues than selling clothes and making fairytale relationships happen,"

"Like what? Your secret little room that you spend so much time in? You know, if you came out of there every once and awhile you might just see that there's a little more to the world and there's a little more to the people close by you," Nathaniel whispered harshly. Draco didn't respond though his grip on the wheel got tighter, he hated when people brought up his room. It set him on edge because that room meant more to him than any other thing he had in his life.

That dawning realization and his best friend's raw emotions kept the rest of their drive back to Cambridge silent.

That night, as Draco ate dinner and readied himself for bed all he could think about was how he had finally found Harry. He went into his room and sighed with relief. His task over the years had finally been rewarded, it was all coming together at last. His hopes and belief that Harry Potter was still alive were true, and he wasn't even that far and how nobody had found him yet was a surprise to him. He adorned the first true smile he had in ages on his face as he past into sleep, but nothing could prepare him for the interaction he was going to have the next afternoon.

Harry smiled and waved off the client, he had just done two piercings on the girl and she wasn't as big of a struggle as most people. And then it hit him...hard. His head began pounding and his magic wanted to will itself out of his body, as though it were a bird rattling in a cage. Harry sucked in a tight breath, he couldn't leave the shop early again today as he had done yesterday. He sighed and with a paled face sauntered out to Lexi.

"How many clients left?" he groaned, she looked at him with a sweet smile.

"Feeling sicky again, Sin?" she teased, he rolled his emerald eyes, bags underneath from a late night beforehand at the pub with some of the guys, "You've got one redo, I think I see him coming in now," she peered over her spot at the desk and Harry followed her eye sight.

His heart stopped.

_'Oh. My. **God**...'_


	3. Found

The room was bathed in silence, Draco stared at Harry's emerald eyes filled with confusion, panic and oddly enough, pain. Harry stared back, his heart racing not knowing what to do. Lexi cleared her throat loudly, making both boys jump, "Great, another toy? He looks just like the rest," she rolled her eyes.

Harry coughed uncomfortably, "No he doesn't," he quickly denied, it was hard to say that when Draco  _did_  look like all the boys he fooled around with. Pale skin, blonde hair, light eyes. But this was Draco Malfoy, not some guy he meets at the shop or pub. Harry was well aware Draco was continuously surveying him, as if catalouging what he appeared to be. He stood in a tight black t-shirt, clinging to his toned body and tucked into black slacks. One arm was full from the wrist to shoulder with tattoos, mostly black but some splashed with colour and Draco was curious to know what they all meant, then there was another Celtic Cross printed on his left forearm - where his Dark Mark was.

"Uhm.. _.Nathaniel_?" Harry asked slowly, his voice trembled, "You wanted a cover-up, can I see what of?" he wondered what tattoo Malfoy could even have and want covered up, his head pounded he took shallow breaths to keep himself standing straight. His magic was pushing at him so hard, in such close proximity to the man. 

"Sure,  _James_ ," Draco empthasized the name, making the brunette blush as Lexi looked on with curiousity. The platinum haired man rolled up his black jacket sleeve, revealing the Dark Mark as he saw emerald eyes dilate and then return to normal. He grinned inwardly with satisfaction. It felt like old times, nearly, with him making Potter itch multiple times in one day.

"Lets, erm...go back, shall we?" Harry stammered, leading the way down the creaky stairs and into the parlour. There were a few private rooms, Harry went to the one in the far right corner and once Draco was inside too, slammed the door shut and locked it. The room had a chair and tattooing utensils, along with that the walls were white and only a mirror hung on it.

"So, you finally found me," Harry whispered, disbelief raking his voice.

"By chance," Draco shrugged, sliding off his jacket to reveal tightly fastened cloaks which Harry coolly regarded. The blonde wore a black cloak, fastened with a fancied silver pin at the top, beneath it looked to be a dress shirt and slacks. "I was having a meeting with a client in town across the street, saw you walking along and could not slip up the opportunity," he drawled slowly, observing all of Harry's actions as the brunette actually began readying tattoo utensils.

"Why did you want to find me so badly? What's with the room and the Pensieve, Malfoy?" Harry accused, finding no need for formalities, no need to hold his questions back as he began sterilizing equipment with his back to Draco just so he wouldn't have to watch the blonde observe him so intensely, his cheeks were burning hot.

"I think we are passed childhood rivalries, are we not grown men now? Please, call me Draco," he insisted, taking a sit on the only chair in the room and rested back on it, eyes fluttering shut with satisfaction. He still couldn't believe he was in the same room with Harry Potter, having a long awaited conversation with him. He dared not let his nerves show through. 

"Yes, Draco it is then," Harry mumbled quietly, still waiting for a response and refusing to turn around, "You still haven't answered my questions," 

"Nor will I, not here with the Muggle in the other room," Draco shook his head in defiance but his face was holding a smug grin.,"I came for a cover up, so that is what we will do. Can we go somewhere private afterwards?"

"Fine, my place is upstairs," Harry muttered and then turned around, his eyes downcast.

"Upstairs? You don't even have a house?!" Draco seemed appalled, but his eyes were playful as he shook his head, a blonde hair falling out of place and in front of his eyes. Harry wanted to reach out and push it back but he refrained himself.

"It's called playing the part," Harry half-lied, for it was more like himself than acting now, he had fallen too in step with the character he had created to escape, "Now show me the tattoo," he quickly changed the subject.

Draco smirked and leaned forward, "Oh, I bet you've seen it thousands of times," he drawled and rolled up his sleeve. He was surprised when Harry flinched and backed so faraway his behind hit the wall, "Harry, are you alright?" he asked concerned.

"That? You were being serious when you want me to cover up  _that_?" Harry was incredulous, and yet he couldn't tear his emerald eyes away from the Dark Mark.

"Of course, it is the only one I have got," Draco snipped playfully, "Why, can't you turn it into something better so I don't have to look at it everyday?"

"Yeah of course I can! But if you honestly want me to cover that, you are going to have to let me change it into whatever I want," Harry bargained, he wasn't in his right mind, he knew he should have thrown him out as soon as he saw him. But he was too curious. About the room, the Pensieve, it was more than what he saw when he peered into the Weasley's house every year. It was unnerving, disconcerting, but all it did was make him even more curious. "Usually, I would need time to draw it, figure it out, but..." Harry trailed off for a moment, sucking in a deep breath, "I've drawn over that Mark in my head plenty of times," 

Draco eyed him and then contemplated the bargain for a moment, could something Harry make up be worse than the Dark Mark? Definitely not. He nodded and rested his arm on the chair, leaning back comfortably, "Well, get to it, Potter," 

"I thought we were beyond last names," Harry mumbled as he threw on his black latex gloves and got his needle ready, preparing the ink quickly and then grabbing the stool, pulling it up close to Draco's side as he sat down next to Draco's left forearm.

"Speaking of which, absolutely clever of you to change your name to the combination of your Father and Mother's, I did not see that one coming,"

"I bet you didn't see this either," Harry whispered, he was quite uncomfortable with the idea of being finally found and he knew he should have put up wards, made better precautions, but he travelled for so many years until people stopped looking for him. He thought he was safe, at last. He knew he was too close to other magic folks when he moved to Cambridge, he just loved the small city and absolutely had to! The brunette began the long gruelling process of tattooing, Draco squirmed and whined the entire time being continuously chastised. 

"Bloody hell, Potter! I swear you're enjoying this!" Draco spat between clenched teeth, forty-five minutes in. But the blond couldn't complain, he was relishing in the company, in the ends that justified all his means. His arm felt numb at this point, he hated the way the vibrating needle pushed into his skin; it burned, like Harry was pushing hot coals down on his skin and then rubbing them in. Harry merely smirked beneath his fringe at the comment, Draco glared at him and glanced back down as he continued to work. 

"Usually I would stop and ask if you were alright, you know, give them a break, especially for a first timer but...I really don't care, Malfoy," Harry whispered as he worked, Draco's glare merely narrowing. 

An hour passed on by when Harry finally was finished, he leaned back with a satisfied smile and put some Vaseline on the newly done tattoo, the skin around it reddened and little bits of it bleeding. Draco opened his cramped shut eyes, a half-smile gracing his pristine features that no longer looked pain ad he allowed his eyes to roam over Harry before down at the tattoo. He raised his eyebrow and took a closer look, it was quite well done, even he hadn't been expecting that. 

It was now a Slytherin green snake, coiling itself around a beautifully done Hogwarts crest, not a single detail missing. "Harry, that is actually..." Draco admired it for another moment, he felt faint, his palms were sweaty. He realized the Dark Mark laid under there but there wasn't a single trace of it. He was amazed, "I like it," _  
_

"You should leave now," he ordered monotonously. Draco's mouth opened slightly and shut again.

"I-I, But I just found you," he stammered in disbelief, the only reason he accepted to even get a wretched _Muggle_ tattoo was because it meant being so close to what he saw as his prize - of perseverance,  "The entire Wizarding World has been looking for you for five years!  _Five Years!_  Everybody thought you were dead..."

"Yeah, except you," Harry scoffed, putting his used tools in the Bio hazard container, his gloves thrown in the garbage. 

Draco continued, ignoring him, "...and now you are just telling me to bugger off? You know what, SHOVE IT, POTTER!" he barked and stood up abruptly, fists clenched with lines itched into his face, "I am not leaving, do not think you can make me...you can even call those - whatchamacallem's...Poppers," he snarled lowly.

"They are Policemen, Draco," Harry rolled his eyes, allowing an amused smirk to play on his face, but only briefly as he became stoic once more. 

"Sod what they are and sod you!" he growled, his eyes flashing with anger.

"What do you want from me?" Harry countered, "Why does everybody always want something from me?!"

"All I want, Potter," Draco spat venomously, "Is too repay you for this damned tattoo,"

Harry raised his eyebrow elegantly, the crimson barbell in it rose as well, "I don't want your money, Malfoy, I saw you flaunt enough of it in school, thanks," he replied evenly.

"I will repay you," he slowly spoke, "With dinner, tonight," Draco looked murderous, and even as he offered what seemed to be reasonable for an old classmate, he still appeared venomous. 

"Excuse me?" Harry spat, aghast with widened eyes.

"You heard me so do not pretend like you did not,"

"I just-just...don't know what to say..."

"You say yes, then you close up this place and go upstairs with me and we will get ready. That is what your response should be," Draco had calmed down slightly now, holding an amused expression in his eyes although he still seemed rather tensed and frustrated, "This isn't a date, Harry, I just think we should talk - you owe me-" Draco paused for a moment, "-I looked for you, for a long time. Just talk, just one conversation, that's all I'm asking,"

"But, it's making me sick," Harry whispered, his eyes suddenly cast solemnly at his feet.

"How could my presence be making you sick? Come on, Potter, that is a little childish-"

"It just...fine, I'll go," Harry heaved his shoulders in defeat, he didn't want to have to explain himself to Draco and especially not that even though he knew he'd find out sooner or later. Probably sooner. Harry felt daunted; but did he honestly think he could run, forever? Harry knew there would be a point, sometime in his life, but he always assumed it would be many years from then, when he had learned to fully keep his magic locked up. They finally left the contours of the basement and came up to Lexi still reading at the front desk, "I'll be going now, upstairs," Harry smiled warmly.

"See you tomorrow, then? Going out with us still, right man?" Lexi asked hopefully.

"Of course, when do I ever miss it?" Harry grinned down at her and then patted her lightly on the shoulder.

"Where's the money?" she questioned slowly, looking around Harry to the supposed Nathaniel. 

"He's not paying, he's an old friend," the brunette explained with a light tinge of pink coming to his cheeks.

  
"Oh, did he go to that weird school of yours?"

"St. Brutus', yeah...I'll see you later, Lex!" Harry quickly said and then grabbed a confused Draco by the wrist and hauled him out the door and into the cold without another word. The blonde didn't say a word as he was lead to a door to the right of the shop, it was just a set of stairs and then two doors at the top. Harry unlocked and went into the one on the right.

Once inside, Draco stood agape staring at the incredulous mess before him. _This_ was where Harry Potter has been living?! It was already difficult enough to comprehend all of this!" he gestured at Harry himself, "But, you live  _here?_ "

Harry ignored his comment and bustled into the kitchen, he began puttering around with mugs and the kettle, "Tea or coffee?" he asked.

"I would usually go for tea but I do think coffee is in dire need," Draco's eyes were still wide, and when Harry had turned to face the blonde slowly taking his seat cautiously at the table, he laughed out loud. Draco was taken aback by the sudden laughter. "What?" the other accused.

"You look so...so..."

"Astonished?" he offered, "Because I am! Who knew that you would run off from the entire Wizarding World to do whatever it is your bloody doing in the filthiest part of Cambridge and live in a dirty little shack like this?! Are you honestly that poor, Potter?" Draco ground out, he was quite displeased, for obvious reasons this isn't the way he expected to find the great saviour. 

"I do have money. In Gringotts," Harry shrugged and finished making the coffee, handing one cup to Draco and then taking a sip out of his own, "If you really want to go out, I guess I will shower then. But one conversation and that's it...the television is in there," he gestured to the living room, "and there's newspapers on the table in there too if you'd like to read,"

"Do you have The Daily Prophet?" Draco quipped.

Harry's mouth opened and then shut, he merely shook his head which now fell down and quickly walked from the kitchen without another word with his coffee in hand. As soon as he was inside of the bathroom, he took three Tylenol's from their place on his shelf, his head was pounding as his magic was begging to be set free. He urged it down the best he could, but he was finding himself so physically strained, "It's okay," he told himself, staring in the mirror through heavy eyes. "It's just one night with Malfoy, you can do this,"

Once he had gathered himself, showered, Harry got into a new change of clothes and went into the living room to find Draco reading the Muggle newspapers with slight disarray, "Why don't' you have _our_  magazines or news? And why don't you use magic?" Draco barked out immediately and then his silver eyes scanned Harry's figure and they went wide, "What are you wearing?" he whispered almost accusingly. 

Harry stood in bondage pants, as they were called; silver hoops down his legs with a thick black rope hanging from all of them and a black t-shirt, but this one had red zippers in a few namely places. His wrists adorned one studded and one spiked bracelet, his neck wore what Draco had come to know as a dog collar, "Uh...clothes?" was his mere response, with a blush. He had developed this style to accommodate the life he was living amongst the Muggles. At this point, he didn't know what clothes he would feel more comfortable in; Dudley's baggy, used ones or the ones he now adorned. He felt safe in them - nobody would expect to see Harry Potter dressed as such, he thought it could save him in dire situations of confrontation, but obviously Malfoy had seen right through it...still, he enjoyed the darker fashion. "Can we just go, get this over with, please?"

"Yes. Though may I say for the record that it will be rather embarrassing to be seen with you in public?" Harry merely shook his head in response, grabbed his leather chained jacket from the coat rack in the corner and started towards the door. Draco followed, heaving himself away from the newspapers in which he always found relatively boring. Muggles never had any important news to discuss. 

"So, where are we going?" Harry asked, shoving his hands into his pocket and pulling himself together against the winter cold, it looked like it was going to rain now that the snow had stopped - Britain always had such rotten weather, he sometimes longed for different scenery but he was too comfortable where he was. 

"I am not from around here, bring me some place nice. French cuisine, if you have it," Draco ordered softly, his silver eyes barely would leave Harry's figure as he was still in slight disbelief despite his flippant attitude. Harry shifted uncomfortably beneath the intense gaze.

"I thought you were taking me out," he responded lowly, Draco merely chuckled as they walked along looking like two normal fellows - that is of course besides the cloak that pushed out past Draco's winter jacket.

They walked silently and turned a couple of streets before coming to stop in a barely busy restaurant named Chez Pier, Harry ushered Draco inside and when they were seated with water the inquiry begin.

"Why did you leave?" Draco quickly got into it, he was rather anxious. He had been waiting five long years for this conversation.

Harry gulped visibly; ' _I can't believe I'm sitting here with Draco Malfoy, of all people. I can't believe he finally found me...I wasn't being cautious enough...'_

"Er...I can't... _Draco_...I can't answer that...not yet," Harry stuttered, and was glad when he didn't prod after a long, calculating look. 

"Fine, but you will tell me, I assure you," he warned and continued his questions, "Why did you save me? You do know I owe you a Wizard's Debt now," Draco seemed unamused by this portion.

"A what? No you don't!" Harry shook his head, voice slightly raised and eyes widened, "I didn't save your life, just saved you from prison!"

"No, you saved my life. You do know what happened do you not?" Draco asked slowly, he hadn't ever come to think that Harry had gone missing that quickly.

"No, I don't. The last thing I did in the Wizarding World was speak to you...fancy that, it's the first thing I'm doing associated with it again," the brunette rolled his eyes and took a gulp of water, he was rather nervous and beginning to regret his decision for joining his old classmate for dinner. How could this ever be a good idea? The pills he had taken were already beginning to wear off, his head was pounding, he felt like his skin was too tight for him. 

"Oh," Draco had stopped his inquiry and a pained expression came into his silver eyes, something Harry had never seen before, "I am sorry, truly," he whispered across the table. Harry looked at him questionably but they were interrupted by the waitress. They both quickly ordered two pasta dishes as Harry looked at Draco every few seconds whose mood seemed to be suddenly downcast now.

"What is it?" Harry insisted.

Draco shook his head lightly, light blonde locks falling in front of his solemn eyes, "I did not want to be the one to tell you," he sighed heavily. "You know how you had asked that all the Death Eaters got life sentencing in Azkaban?" Harry nodded, "Well, it seems as though the Ministry of Magic went against your wishes and did the exact thing you had asked them. If I recall, it was because you said it makes them just like _him_ ," 

It quickly dawned on Harry what the Ministry had done and anger began coursing through his body, he clenched his fists upon the white tablecloth and their glasses of water began to ripple. Draco felt the strange energy reaching out to him from the boy across, he began panicking as he saw a few heads turning their way - all Muggle and not understanding why they were feeling this way. Draco quickly reached out and grabbed Harry's hand, the brunette snapped his attention upward and looked into concerned silver orbs before calming down slightly.

"They murdered them...didn't they?" Harry choked out in a whisper, Draco nodded, "Your Father, too?" he asked, Draco nodded once more but more slowly this time.

"He deserved it," the blonde assured with a hard voice.

Harry shook his head, "Nobody deserves to be murdered," he whispered sadly. This is what he hadn't wanted to happen and he had left the Wizarding World thinking that the Ministry would obey his wishes. He should have remembered how irresponsible they actually were, and filled with fearful wrath.

"Harry...what was that just now? You went through seven years at Hogwarts and you still cannot control your magic when you have a temper tantrum?" Draco asked, he was concerned and Harry began blushing when he realized that the blonde still hadn't let go of his hand. He shied away, it was such a strange place to find himself in.

"I-I...don't ask questions, I can't answer them but I'll tell you why, okay? I haven't used magic since the Final Battle with Voldemort and I won't ever again. If you didn't notice up in my apartment, I have nothing to do with it any more and I don't want to...that's why I had to leave, I can't use my magic any more," Harry said with a strange tone, his brows were furrowed and he was looking down at the table.

"Yes you obviously can, you just cannot control it,"

"That's why I won't use it...I...I can't say any more, okay? Can we just leave it at that? I can't talk about any of these things, not just yet. Please don't make me," Harry pleaded lightly, his emerald eyes were large andDraco felt a soft spot hit inside of him and he reluctantly nodded. No matter how much he needed to know, he also understood that if he took this slow that Harry would open up to him, he might even begin to trust him, it just might take longer to get what he wanted. It had taken five long years to get here, was it really bad waiting a little longer? 

_'Is that what you want? For Harry to trust you...or is it something more? Why have you cared all these years, Malfoy? Once you had him, you swore to repay your debt, get your answers and be done with it, but now you're respecting h-'_

"Why were you so intent on finding me? Why were you so obsessed with the room and all...why did you even care?" Harry quipped, as if reading the blonde's mind who now retracted his hand making the brunette blush even a deeper shade of red that Draco decided looked rather becoming. He shook the thought urgently from his head.

"This, I cannot answer either because I do not know. At first, I thought it was because I wanted answers for why you had hugged me and for saving me as well. Then, it just kept growing. I slowly became the only one I knew that still believed you were alive...I even go to the Weasley's every once and awhile to check on them to see if they have heard from you, of course I do not speak with them as they would not answer truthfully," Draco sounded slightly embarrassed, "Something just always kept pushing me and pushing me, I just knew I needed to find you,"

They were interrupted once again by their waitress bringing their meals now, they both thanked her before she walked off and ate a few forkfuls of pasta before turning back to one another. Neither spoke for a moment and just stared, until Harry blushed and looked away - he had no idea what had gotten into him that day. He dubbed it as the magical influence in the area. "So tell me," Draco began with a grin, "What have you been up to?"

Harry raised his eyebrow and chuckled lightly, he was glad they were onto easier subjects. He told Draco about how he went to a few different countries to confuse his whereabouts, how he travelled all across Europe trying to find the perfect place for himself and on his journey he discovered his love for not only drawing, painting, art of all kind but also, tattoos. Once he found the perfect place, Cambridge, he opened up his shop and ever since had a growing number of clientèle whom had become more like his friends or a wayward family. Whenever he wasn't working he was reading Muggle novels, going out to the pub or gym. Draco found this amusing. So sedentary. 

"I've opened up the fastest growing, most popular Wizarding and Witch Designer clothing franchise, I've got two shops now; One in Hogsmeade and one in Diagon Alley and am looking to expand; locally and internationally," Draco said smugly.

"That's why you drive such a nice car...which by the way, I can't believe you use a Muggle contraption," Harry mused.

"Have you been spying on me, Potter?" Draco smirked almost playfully, Harry blushed in response. "Yes, well, I cannot Floo everywhere, now can I?"

The two continued their evening in this fashion, talking about what they were up to those days and avoiding the past as best as possible, even though it took a lot of effort on Draco's behalf. When they were finished dinner and leaving the restaurant, Harry walked Draco back as it was now close to seven o'clock in the evening. They reached the apartment now, standing outside in the cold as it still smelt and looked as though it was going to rain and most likely was soon. "You sure you can drive back all that way?" Harry asked, slightly concerned as he knew his journey was far enough. 

"Sure I can, I've had enough rounds of coffee to keep me going..." his voice trailed off uneasily, he didn't want this day to end because this is what he had been searching for his entire adulthood, "Can we perhaps meet again?"

Before Harry could think he spoke, "Yes," and with his instant reply came another blush, "I-I mean, I guess it's okay. As much as it..."  _'Hurts,'_ "...as much as I don't want to, Malfoy. It's sort of okay to see somebody from before," he stammered. 

"You do that a lot,"

"What?"

"Blush," Draco smirked, it widened when Harry's cheeks darkened even further, "Anyway, I sadly must be off. Can I stop by in a couple of days?" he asked hopefully.

Harry nodded, "You know where to find me...but, one thing, you have to swear to not tell anybody. I'm not ready, not yet..."

"Oh, don't you worry, Harry. You are all mine, for now," Draco smiled once more and then began to walk across the street to where his car was parked leaving a very timid looking Harry in the cold winter evening.

The brunette slowly trudged his way upstairs once Draco's car was out of sight and got himself ready for bed, once he was safe beneath the warm covers he couldn't get Draco out of his thoughts. The way his hand lingered on his own, the room that was stowed away in his house, his blinded trust for Harry, his lurid curiosity and the way he could go from a scowling git to a smirking b-"Stop thinking about him!" he ordered himself aloud, but it simply wouldn't work. "It's because I was found," Harry convinced himself, "It's the magic. It's the fear of being known...that's all it is," Harry easily lied himself to sleep. 

 


	4. Let's Get Magical

Harry hadn't seen this coming, not at all. He sat dazed in his living room where all objects near him began to shake, Draco stood curiously in front of him with his wand extended straight at the brunette.

"Why are you afraid of magic? Why?" Draco angrily hissed, his voice consistantly rising. "Tell me!"

Harry's emerald eyes had nearly disappeared beneath his enlarged pupils, "I-I'm not afraid! I just don't want to be near it! Please, please, please..." he dragged on looking sorrowful.

"Liar. You are shaking all over, you look more terrified than when I tried to kill you!" the blonde reamed, "I have gone over this in my head for days! So please, enlighten me Potter, why are you afraid of magic?!" Draco spat now, his wand still pointed at the cowering man before him. He couldn't believe Harry Potter had been reduced to this.

Harry trembled visibly, "I'm not afraid, I just don't want to use it," he whispered nearly inaudibly.

Draco growled in frustration, he felt like tearing at his hair as he wasn't getting any real answers still. An idea came into his head suddenly and he jumped into action, " _Sectumsempra_!" and then it all happened so fast. A jet of purplish light lept fom Draco's wand towards the unsuspecting brunette. Harry quickly threw up his right hand and a white orb formed in his palm, absorbing most of the spell though some backfired at the awestruck blonde. Draco yelped and grabbed his wand arm in agony, a large gash had formed from his lower palm till just below his elbow. He crumpled to the floor, his eyes tearing, in front of a surprised Harry. "Potter...do something!" he ordered in harsh breaths. Harry edged closer to him, staring at the flowing blood, "Heal me! I'm going to bleed to death, here!" Draco urgently screeched.

"But...I...don't...Idon'thaveawand!" he mumbled quickly in response, his eyes searching the slowly paling man. Harry knew he had to do something, but what? Should he act like Muggles did and call an ambulance? But they couldn't heal magically made wounds, this much he remembered.

"You do not have a wand?! I don't care...use wandless magic, you did it at the Final Battle!" Draco's voice was cracking, he was staring at the gash, the blood pouring out onto Harry's carpet and he began to loll backwards. Just before he hit the ground, Harry grabbed him forcibly and held him upright towards his heavily breathing body.

"It's been so long," Harry shook his head and looked down hopelessly. ' _You have to do something, he will die. A cursed wound like this just doesn't stop bleeding. Your hands are bloody enough as it is. Anybody but Draco, you can't let this happen to Draco, too...'_  the brunette realized that he would prefer anybody else but the blonde to be in this situation, asides from his lost friends, and it startled him, "Hold it out," Harry said, but Draco didn't respond, his eyes were blinking slowly.

Harry yanked the injured arm towards him and immediately Draco sighed into the touch, he knew it would be alright. This is what he wanted. He knew Harry more than the brunette thought he did - he knew he would do what he had to, to save himself and to keep others away from harm. Harry concentrated all the healing energy he could towards the wound, he closed his eyes and placed both hands over the cut and heard Draco hiss in response but he didn't retract. After a few moments, Harry felt Draco shifting uncomfortably beneath him. Worried, he opened up his eyes hoping it had worked and looked down to see blood everywhere. He glanced up at Draco's pale face and saw a small smirk...

"Took you long enough," Draco drawled characteristically, then closed his eyes. Harry breathed deeply and took off his shirt, the blonde was too tired to notice. He used the black cotton to wipe the blood off of the blonde's arm, in place he saw a long pink scar that he knew wouldn't last long. Apparantly over the years, Harry hadn't lost his touch. And for the first time since he was around Draco, his headache disappeared and he felt at ease.

"I'm so sorry," Harry whispered and pulled the other man's weak body towards him, Draco didn't protest. He brought Draco to his bed, throwing a light sheet over top of him. "You rest, I need to go buy you some chocolate," Harry decided quickly. He grabbed a dirty shirt off the floor and discarded his bloody one into the open bathroom, reckoning to deal with it later.

"Mmmhmm, I'm going to sleep..." Draco sighed and then Harry rushed back over to his side, pulling on his jacket at the same time.

"Do NOT go to sleep. Please, it's important! Please don't go to sleep! You need chocolate after what just happened, but you can't go to sleep, just in case. Just sit up, read something," Harry ordered and the blonde groaned but slowly nodded, coming into a sitting position. He looked around the room and grunted.

"Always this messy, Potter?" he drawled.

"Always," Harry nodded in response and with one last glance he was out the door with worry etched in his face. He hurried down the main street onto the candy shop on the corner, a couple of small children were there and Harry ignored the strange, apprehensive looks as he wandered in with a purpose. He found the chocolate aisle and grabbed an assortment of dark cocoa before running to purchase it, he didn't even wait long enough to receive any change as he ran back out onto the street and back home.

Once he arrived there, Draco was flipping through one of Harry's sketchbooks lazily, his eyes slightly unfocused and his right arm cradled in his lap. "Does it hurt a lot?" Harry asked slowly when he walked into the room, throwing his jacket on the floor and sitting on the edge of the bed beside the blonde.

"Just sort of stings, weak still," Draco responded, his eyes never straying from a particular coloured sketch of a horned dragon, curled around a pillar. Harry turned a light shade of pink.

"I've never felt I was that great at creatures, only dragons," he explained sheepishly and took out chocolate from his bag.

"I always hated dark chocolate, but it has always worked..." Draco drawled as he put down the sketch book on his lap and reached forward to take the chocolate.

"Here," Harry said lightly, unwrapping it and breaking off a piece and handing it to the ex-Slytherin.

"Thanks,"

"I'm really sorry Draco, I didn't know - I didn't know what I was doing. It kind of just happened, like it used to when I was a kid," Harry sighed, his eyes dropped from the boy in his bed in front of him down to his own lap in shame.

"Harry, it really does not hurt much...I will feel better after some rest. It was my fault for pushing you. I got what I wanted. Can you tell me what you mean, though, how this used to happen when you were a kid?" Draco questioned, then took a bite out of the chocolate. He figured out that the more gentle he was with Harry with his words, the easier it was to coax the brunette out for answers. That's really all he wanted and he knew, he knew he could leave the boy alone to his sad, shrunken world after he got them. He would be able to let go, once and for all. 

"The same thing that happened to everyone, I'm guessing. I mean, when you got really upset or really emotional, didn't you make things happen because of your magic without meaning to?" Harry asked, when he saw Draco slowly shake his head he looked down in further shame, "Well, I did. I made my hair grow back overnight when it got cut and I didn't want it to, I made glass disappear at a zoo once to set a snake free. Right now, I just knew I had to protect myself, and so I did," Harry shrugged nonchalantly.

Draco's eyes were wider than usual, he swallowed more chocolate before answering with slight astonishment, "Harry...not many people can do that. To correct myself, I have never heard of anybody doing that," he felt the other getting uncomfortable now. "May I be honest?"

"My permission stopped you before?" Harry joked lightly, Draco rolled his eyes in response.

"Harry, I have been studying you for _years_. I have been looking back at your dueling with me, your performance in Defence Against the Dark Arts class, and most especially I have gone over the Final Battle numerous times. Hundreds of times, actually," Draco was speaking softly, "I believe that you have more power and potential than anybody has ever realized possible. I believe that if you recognize yourself and the magic inside of you, than you can be like the Founders.  Harry, why did you ever stop?" the blonde pleaded, and when Harry looked up into those silver orbs he realized there was no way of avoiding answering truthfully.

"I can't really describe the feeling, what happened when I finally killed Voldemort. After I did, I was afraid of becoming him. His power...it's apart of me now, all of his magic from his core seeped into me and from that moment on it's been begging me to explode. The only way to calm it is to stay as far away from magic as possible," Harry explained, his emerald eyes searching the fabric of his pants, picking at fluffs to distract himself as much as possible, "I was scared and now I'm used to it. I know I can suppress it, but I'm still scared to let it loose. Look what happens, I always hurt people I don't want to," he gestured towards Draco's freshly scarred arm. Draco didn't know how to exactly respond, his memories of the Final Battle were flashing at him. Instead, he leaned forward and reached out his uninjured arm to gently graze Harry's hand, the brunette jumped but did not move away although his cheeks were turning red, "You see, I should never use magic. All it did today was hurt you,"

"Yes, but you protected yourself!" Draco snapped back, he gripped Harry's hand now, nearly crushing the fingers beneath his own slender ones.

Harry attempted to slip out of the blonde's menacing grip, but could not, "I don't give a shit about protecting myself, Malfoy! I never have! You're the expert in that department, aren't you, Malfoy? Haven't you realized yet that none of this is about me, it's all about everybody else!" he retorted with a pained expression and venom in his voice, though he couldn't help but ignore the warm sensations that were flowing from Draco's pale skin.

"Maybe, just maybe this one time, you should try making it about yourself," Draco whispered, his silver eyes prodding into the other individual who immediately began shaking his head.

"No. Never. I'll hurt too many people. I know I have power, but I'm not nearly as powerful as Dumbledore was, or Voldemort and definitely don't come close to Hogwarts Founders and nowhere near Merlin!" Harry said in disdain, he didn't want to be that powerful so there was no way he was going to accept it.

"Believe what you will, but how did you defeat both Dumbledore and Voldemort?" Draco questioned, bringing up the dreaded topic of Harry duelling with Dumbledore, the blonde was treading dark and dangerous waters now.

"Luck, sheer-fucking-luck," Harry spat, he didn't like this conversation any more but he knew he couldn't runaway from it. After all Draco had done to try and find him, he felt as though he should reward him with some answers. 

"I do not think that, but you may think what you like. I can feel it just sitting beside you and the fact you can actual surpress your magical power is in itself impressive! You have been training for years without even realizing it. Let me guess one thing, Harry, the pain has lessened over the years, has it not?" Draco asked, Harry looked up with tense emerald eyes and nodded slowly, "It has become easier to live with this much power?" the brunette nodded once more, Draco squeezed his hand a little tighter. "I need to figure a few things out. I have some theories. May I return in a few days, to share them?"

"Fine, but don't try and bring me out  _there_ , I don't want to go back," Harry half-lied. Yes, he missed his friends, he missed using magic, he missed all aspects of the Wizarding World, but he did not miss the boiling rage of power that ran through his veins.

"I won't make you, ever. And that is a promise, and Malfoy's keep their promises," Draco was smirking lazily now and leaned in a little closer to Harry, who sucked in a short breath, "You are a wonderful artist, Harry," he whispered, motioning towards his still healing arm; it was peeling in certain places, a little irritated in others, but for the most part he was more than happy to glance down and see something other than the Dark Mark. 

"Heh, must have been all those years trying to work a quill," Harry muttered, he felt awkward and tense for some reason which never happened around any of the other boys.  _'Not that this is the same thing,'_ Harry assured himself. 

"No, really. I like this dragon. Could you draw one for me? I mean, my name _does_ mean Dragon," Draco winked and leaned back again on the bed, propping himself up on his elbow after finishing off the chocolate.

"Er, sure. I guess...just a picture?"

"How about another tattoo? Since the first one did not hurt that much," Draco suggested, making Harry's pierced eyebrow lift high into the air, he was suppressing a laugh now, recalling the blond's screeches of pain, "I was thinking of putting one on my lower back, or upper back even. Either or. Not too big, definitely not too small," he spoke thoughtfully and allowed his gaze to wander around Harry's bedroom and back to the nervous man he was still holding hands with, almost absently. Was this what he had waited five long years for?

"Are you sure? If I can remember, you were-"

"Yes, I am. The good thing about it is that you will be the only one to see it," Draco sneered, "You and a few, selective other  _friends,_  of course," he grinned and Harry's face fell momentarily.

_'Am I upset that Draco just suggested that he has lovers? Why in the hell should I care? This is still Draco Malfoy! Damn blonde's, they get me every time,'_  Harry thought to himself, he finally allowed his slightly sweaty fingers to entwine with the others as he looked the other way, pretending he didn't feel a thing.  _'Nothing to see here,'_ Harry chided himself, ' _Just Potter and Malfoy holding hands,'_ Even Harry's own thoughts were incredulous. 

"Are you certain you can drive in this condition, Malfoy? You still seem a little bit...."

"I am fine, I assure you. That chocolate does indeed always help. Could you make me some coffee to go though? Do you have those...er...those takeoutthingymabobbers?" Draco asked, reluctantly releasing Harry's hand and standing up, straightening himself out before being led from the room.

"You mean a travel mug? Sure, just bring it back because I ain't got many," Harry chuckled lightly, he wasn't one for making food or drinks at his apartment - he was usually always at the pub for that. After quietly brewing coffee and making sure Draco was alright, he made to leave.

"I'm sorry about today," Harry apologized again.

"Don't be, my fault," Draco smiled, and it was a genuine smile that made the brunette nearly melt to his knees. He was surprised, that after seven years in school he had never seen him truly smile. 

"So see you Saturday?" Harry asked slowly, half-wishing the blonde would delay himself. 

"Saturday it is," and without any more words or actions towards Harry, Draco turned on his heel and started down the stairs. Harry watched him until he was out of sight and something inside of Harry fell. For some reason, he thought something more would come of that. He chalked it up to having seen that room, all those months ago now. Ever since then he couldn't get Malfoy off his mind, his curiosity fuelling most of his thoughts. It honestly didn't help that he was blond, and strikingly so.

Harry made his way down the stairs and into his shop, greeting Lexi with a grin, "Hey there, girl," 

"Your boy toy just left, is that what's got you so happy? Have a good lay?" she winked at Harry who turned an immediate shade of red, slightly scaring Lexi herself.

"No! No! It's not like that...old friend from school, remember? Not a good friend, either," Harry mumbled underneath his breath. At least some of the things he shared with her were honest. 

"Sure, sure...you know, he looks an awful lot like all the other boys you somehow drag up to your room. Bleach blonde, pale skin, little bit on the pathetic, lanky side and blue eyes..."

"Draco doesn't have blue eyes, his are silver," Harry harrumphed proudly and then wanted to hit himself as a knowing look dawned on Lexi's face. The brunette shook his head and held up his hand in protest, "I don't like him like that!" he denied, quite dishonestly as both could tell.

"Sure, sure...keep telling yourself that," Lexi smirked and giggled before shaking her head and returning to her book, "Appointments in forty minutes, maybe you wanna prep?" she offered. 

Harry nodded thankfully. The rest of his day was filled with a strange mix of emotions as his thoughts continuously came back to those of one blonde man, who he couldn't wait to see again in a couple of days.

 


	5. The Red Lotus

It was not a good day for Harry; his nerves were rattling him, his hands shook, perhaps due to the excessive amount of energy drinks as he refused to sleep the night before. His magic was absolutely begging to get out since the incident a couple of days ago. It wasn't a good thing that he was mentally unprepared to have Draco sitting shirtless in front of him for at least three hours, his skin at the mercy of his needle, his back a canvas to his art. He felt incredulous, ridiculous all at once. Here was the Draco Malfoy, surrendering himself to such a muggle practise...then again, he seemed to have embraced what he was thought to have despised quite a bit over the years. 

He was piercing a younger girl's, just about nineteen, tongue when he heard the shop door open. He knew immediately, due to the urge in his magic. He clamped the young girls dried tongue, she winced uncomfortably and soon heard footsteps coming down the stairs. He felt himself stiffen as the long needle in his hand shook, the girl looked up nervously through heavily blackened eyelids and twitched her open mouth into something like a smile.

"Does it hurt?" she mumbled, her tongue still hanging out against the clamp, a small drip of saliva fell from the corner of her mouth. 

Harry laughed nervously, "Not really, it's just for a split second. Just try not to think about it," he said with a sweet smile, attempting to be reassuring. The presence shifted immediately once Draco made himself known in the room, Harry straightened up and looked down at the girl. "Is it okay that he is in here?" he asked, she nodded slowly and tightly shut her eyes, "Just sit anywhere, Draco," Harry said with a tense voice, he then readied the needle in his hand with the silver tongue bar in the other. "Now, take a deep breath in," he cooed softly and the girl obeyed, "Out," he ordered gently and pushed the needle through, after a moment he quickly replaced it with a bar, screwing in one of its missing balls. Small tears were forming in the girls eyes, she looked sweaty and flushed but shook herself quickly from it, wiping the drool from the sides of her mouth. 

"Just sit for a minute, gather yourself. You can pay Lexi on your way up, she'll explain how long you have to keep that in for. If you don't feel good just call for me, alright?" Harry smiled down at her as she nodded. "The aftercare sheet..."

"I already got it from you before," the girl assured him with a pained smile, speaking around her swollen tongue, Harry nodded and then left the room, leaving the door ajar for the girl to leave of her own accord. He would usually sit with them for a moment, cleaning up the utensils, but he couldn't, he was too distracted, his hands were shaking incredibly now, he was sweating, he began biting the metal tongue bar in his own mouth now.  Draco shot a curious look at the girl before following the brunette out into the more open basement, there was a sitting quarter set up from customers who would wait for appointments, which is where the two took a seat. 

"How are you?" Harry asked shakily.

Draco was smirking, "Fine. Though, it is getting rather difficult avoiding answering questions about these," he lifted up his right sleeve and there was still a purplish scar down his forearm, it clashed against his pale skin, he also briefly gestured at his left arm. 

"I'm so sorry, Draco. I've ruined your arm," Harry sighed, angry with himself as his head hung low.

"Do not be stupid, Potter. I am fine, it is just a scar. I am just telling everybody to mind their own damn business, as they should," the blonde smiled but it fell as the girl wobbled into the room, her purse thrown around her shoulder as she made her way over to Harry.

"Thank you, Sin," she smiled down at him, her cheeks were a bright red, though the rest of her still looked pale and shaken. 

"No problem, just go upstairs and Lexi will deal with your payment...and try not to speak so much, it will help with any leftover pain," he said half-heartedly, though his eyes never left Draco's figure who was staring curiously at the female whose speech was slightly hampered.

The girl frowned and looked down at Harry before slowly ascending the stairs. Draco chuckled lightly, shaking his head, "Minors, Potter, really?"

"She's nineteen!" Harry exclaimed defensively, "And I would never, she's not exactly..." he trailed off, looking away from Draco at last and down at his shaky hands in his own lap. 

"Did you finish my piece?" Draco asked and once Harry slowly nodded he continued, "Come then, I have much to tell you, from my research," 

"I finished it but...you're not going to like it," Harry blushed and stood up over to one of the closed off rooms, Draco followed quickly and took off his jacket once inside. The blonde closed the door softly, making Harry stiffen visibly as he pulled out a piece of paper from a drawing book sitting on the preparation counter.

Upon handing it to Draco, the blonde closed his eyes. Harry attempted to get him to take the paper, but Draco kept his eyes shut tight, "Just do it," he said, a bemused smirk playing on his lips as he was certain of the incredulous look Harry wore, even without having to open his eyes. 

"Excuse me? You have to look at it, tell me if it's alright-"

"No. Just do it...I trust you," Draco's voice was unfaltering.

"Er...uhm..."

"Do it," He ordered softly. Harry swallowed heavily and felt himself nodding as he took the stencil he had made beforehand, gripping it tightly within his hands. He needed to steady himself, he couldn't completely muck up the blond's skin.

"Can you, um..." before Harry finished his sentence, Draco opened his eyes again as he took off his shirt with ease. He revealed a pale, skinny torso that looked shapely and rather soft to Harry, nothing like his own build. The brunette gulped heavily and began murmuring to himself something incoherent, Draco bemusedly laughed under his breath. 

"See something you like?"

"No!" Harry spat, all too quickly.

"I thought we were old enough to act mature, _Harry_ ," Draco hissed.

Harry turned bright red, "Just, er...straddle..."

"You want me to straddle you?" Draco grinned largely, stepping towards the brunette as Harry stepped back.  _'How can I pass up this opportunity? He is simply crawling, look at him,'_ Draco smirked to his own amusement. 

"The chair, please...the chair," Harry averted his gaze to the stencil in his hand, he needed to focus on his job so he wouldn't mess it up. Draco would kill him.

Draco shrugged and obliged, he stradled the chair with his back to Harry who pulled up a stool behind him. "Do you like being behind me, Harry?" the blonde asked.

"Can-can you just tell me what you have found, whatever it was you were looking for? I need to concentrate..I..stop distracting me," Harry pleaded, he didn't want to have to decipher Draco's games on top of everything else he was still having difficulties working through. The ex-Slytherin finally agreed and rested against his arms, slung around the chair top. He felt a cold cloth on his back and then the stencil being placed on carefully. Once it was on, Harry prepared the needles and his gloves and then began his work with an outline, peeling the stencil off to reveal the pressed on ink. 

Draco hissed at first and his muscles tightened, but after a few minutes of Harry beginning the other relaxed and began to talk about what he had found, trying his best to ignore the hot, searing burns that came with every fall of Harry's hand, "Ever since we graduated I have been rather _bored_. I opened up my own shop, as you know, but still it was too simple. So I read, all the time. I have read nearly every book in my Father's library which is basically the extended section of the Restricted Section. When our little incident happened the other day, I recalled reading something about natural magic that worked without the persons consent when necessary. Just as you have been doing your entire life and I believe this is also why you have been able to defeat Voldemort, not out of luck but because your magic willed you to do so even without your permission or knowledge.

"This thing happens to people, but not as many as you would think. Especially when one is completely unaware that magic exists at first, as you were when you were young. So I took out all those books related to this and read them again. It is all tied into nature, really. By nature, when two magic folk breed they create magical offspring. But also by nature, there are some persons that are meant to have a very strong magical core so albeit they have magical or Muggle parents, they will come out very powerful,"

"Like Hermione?"

"Almost. She is Muggle-born and she does have great power but there are many that are more powerful than her including you and I. Granger is just intelligent, which in itself gives her a great deal of power. Now there are specific, very few Wizards and Witches who posses the strongest, natural powers of nature within them and can harness them without even thinking. I believe that is who you are. Alongside you are very, _very_ few others; Merlin, Godric Gryffindor, Salazar Slytherin, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Helga Hufflepuff. There is a very slight possibility that Dumbledore or Grindewald was apart of that elite group, but so slight I do not feel comfortable including them. But it is in my belief, that you are the only surviving Draiochta - or more commonly said as Draio,"

"What in the _hell_ is that?" Harry swore, his hands pausing only momentarily in their workings. 

"A Draio... _Merlin, Potter, lighten up_...is a naturally occupying magical being, well that of a human that is. You see; Centaurs, Merpeople, and etcetera are also naturally occurring magical beings but there are few human ones. I already mentioned who they were before. Draio's have the largest potential within our world to create, mould and overcome all sorts of magic practice. You can create spells never heard of before, you can cast any sort of curse with ease, you can do things Professor's take difficult concentration to complete in your sleep with the wishes in your subconscious mind. This is such a wonderful thing to be, but the Founding Father's were at first scared of this before they found one another and came into context with their abilities. They are the ones who fully researched their conditions and what exactly they were, all the things they could do. They actually wrote countless books on the subject, ones regular Wizards and Witches have never even laid eyes on because there was no point for them to. These things would never work or apply themselves to regular magical folk, only to the Draio,"

"How come _you_ know so much about it then?" he returned, accidentally pushing a little too hard with his uneasy hands. Draco hissed, looking over his shoulder and scowling. 

"My Father had a knack for collecting useless knowledge," Draco said flippantly before taking a deep breath and continuing. Harry, behind him, was still finding it difficult to concentrate as Draco's smooth back was under his gloved touch, the needle prickling ink into his skin in a fluid motion as emerald eyes closely watched, narrowed. Every few moments he would use his free hand to wipe away the ink, small drops of blood with it, the skin he had touched already was swollen. "There are spectacular spells, the hardest Potion concoctions, which only work properly when vexed by the hand of a Draio,"

"I suck at Potions," Harry reminded him.

"That may be so, but still, I could teach you that. I can teach you how to better yourself at Potions because these are things I cannot create, only you can. There are things unsought about beforehand, things I thought were fictional...can actually happen if done by a Draio! Harry, this is who you are. I am certain of it. There are even training guides written by the Founding Father's and very few notes by Merlin _himself_ on the Draio as he was the first one and dubbed himself by that name. I've brought a few books with me and left them upstairs, a bunch of old transcripts. I think that if you and I study together, I could be your guide. Gods know you need one, considering I am doubtful you ever read a single book at your time at Hogwarts," Draco smirked, he quickly continued as he knew Harry was opening his mouth in the start of a protest, "Though, I am nothing like a teacher, for these are things I cannot do, only you can. If we concentrate hard enough within weeks you will be accomplishing things unheard of in our time," Draco breathed deeply and hissed once more, Harry's needle had ridden over his spine and it nearly dug into his bone, or at least that's what it felt like. Over his spine and the bone of his shoulder blade it felt the most uncomfortable. 

"I don't know, Draco. There is no way I'm as powerful as you say I am...There is no way I can do any of that. I'm pretty certain I'm just Harry, just a Wizard - the only reason I could ever do anything otherwise was because of luck and that damned prophecy," Harry muttered.

"Could you at least try? There is a simple potion that can determine whether or not you are a Draio. It has a two week brewing period and I already started two nights ago, so that leaves us twelve days of practice and studying to do until the potion is made,"

"I will not cast any spells...remember, I don't even have a wand!" Harry protested, there was no way he was going to go and start using magic again. Especially if it was something this ancient and dangerous, something unspoken of within his seven years in the Wizarding World.

"You are a Draio, you will not require one. Of course, you do need some sort of medium for some advanced magic so you can just use my wand," he suggested lightly.

"But-but...one wand per wizard, it won't work for me,"

"Once again, you are a _Draio_ so yes, it will," Draco was so firm in his belief of this. He had been closely watching Harry ever since he had denied his friendship in First Year. He had watched so closely that he knew this was right and true, he knew it more than anything else.

"Fine. I'll study for the next twelve days but once that Potion reveals I'm not who you think I am, I refuse to go any further. And you _have_ to stop trying to make me do magic or else you're out, deal?" Harry bargained, although he still wasn't pleased with this at all. 

"Deal," Draco agreed, with a smug smile on his face. He was glad he learned how to coax Harry into things so easily. The rest of the appointment went on rather silently with a couple of small, painful protests from Draco whenever Harry would run over a place that had less muscle to protect the bone from the needle. It was three long hours before Harry was finished his work.

"Of course, I want to do more shading with this, but my wrist is about to fall off so I'm done for today," he said as Draco stood up from his chair and made his way to the long mirror in the corner of the white, placid room. He turned his head over his shoulder and did that thing that made Harry astonished and weakened all at once, that rare sighting, that  _smile_.

"It is absolutely gorgeous," he whispered in admiration, moving his shoulder blades to get different views of tit It was a green dragon breathing tribal, red fire with expansive, decorative wings that looking elegant yet menacing at the same time. The claws of the beast were coiled around a sharp-edged sword and its sharp tail fell down past its tip. The dragon had beady black eyes and long horns, its mouth slightly ajar revealing lethal fangs. He was surprised that it wasn't any breed of dragon he had ever seen, or that Harry had never encountered, and he was even more surprised that the brunette had refrained from weaving a form of snake into it - Draco appreciated it. He also, mutely, appreciated the fact nobody would see it other than Harry. Or perhaps, over brandy wine, Nathaniel. 

"Wow," Draco said again, Harry was blushing as he discarded the used tools.

"Do you actually like it?"

"Do I like it? I love it, Harry!" he then tore his eyes from the mirror and strode quickly over to the brunette and took him fully in his arms and then let go as he had felt Harry stiffen immediately in an awkward stance.

"I, uh...I, erm...turn around so I can dress it," Harry mumbled and Draco obliged. Once the tattoo was dressed the two awkwardly made their way upstairs to where Lexi was typing on the laptop.

"Go well?" she asked slowly, raising her eyes to the two boys standing oddly faraway from one another.

"Very," Draco nodded, his arms were crossed, he winced slightly as his swollen shoulders protested. The dressed and tape felt odd underneath his shirt. 

"Can I start closing up now? It's way past..."

"Sure, please," Harry said in a hurry, "Are we going to go up to my place to discuss or out?"

"Your place. So long as you have tea,"

"Always," Harry smiled but avoided the blonde's gaze entirely. It wasn't just the conversation, the knowledge Draco was pushing on him, or the presence that tried to coax the magic forcibly from his skin, but the fact he had just spent hours feeling up Draco's back side, even if it was professionally. Harry briefly recalled flashes of moments, heated kisses where he would look up into blue eyes, or his hands would run up the sides of bony ribs and his mouth would open to a slithering tongue, strands of blond hair would tickle his face. The first boy he had ever known to look like that was Draco-' _Don't even think about it,'_ Harry warned himself. 

After they were settled in, Draco took out one of the books he had brought with him, flipping it open to a marked page. They were sitting on the flowery, tacky couch in Harry's apartment sipping herbal Jasmine Gunpowder tea. "Now, I have everything important highlighted here and that is what I want to go over with you today before I leave. When I do leave, you can keep these books and you should study them, Potter. I am being honest when I say I think it will help you, in every way imaginable. Do not study like you did at school, actually _study_. I will bring more with me when I return in...five days time, I do believe will be long enough,"

"Why are you coming back in five days?" Harry asked slowly. He was too distracted by not looking at Draco and concentrating on the conversation that he had not noticed his hands had seized to shake. 

"To give you new books, honestly you cannot be that thick," he rolled his eyes and took a sip of the warm, comforting beverage in the winter months.

"Why not sooner?" Harry let slip out which he immediately regretted, his face coloured again. 

"You are doing that a lot lately," Draco noted amusedly.

"What?"

"Blushing," he smirked as Harry deepened in colour even more so.

Harry was absolutely surprised how smoothly their afternoon went. He couldn't count the cups of tea they shared as they mulled over the texts Draco had brought, the blond pointing out what he thought were important passages from time-to-time but for the most part, they read silently, by themselves, separated by a few feet on the sofa. The next couple of days Harry spent recalling small conversations with Draco and relishing them, also the feel of the blonde's back beneath his hands, the way he would relax into the cold cloth when Harry would wipe every few moments to push aside the ink, the way his spine would curve. Draco spent his time wholly ignoring Nathaniel's Floo Calls and visitations, whilst collecting books that spoke of the Draio. He didn't want to deal with the interrogation he knew was waiting for him. 

It was a Wednesday when Draco came next, only four days difference and the visit surprised Harry as he was leaving the shop that night with Lexi linked on his arm. "Where are you two lovers off to?" the blonde drawled, his arms crossed.

"Down to Winchester for a warmer, you can join," Lexi offered with a non-committal shrug, she slung her arm lazily around Harry's middle as the brunette blushed against the cold wind, Draco shrugged in return but there was a warm smirk placed neatly on his face as well.

"Er, I don't know if...I thought you were coming tomorrow," Harry's face twisted into confusion.

"I came today instead, could not wait to see you... _James_ ," Draco added carefully and the brunette's eyes sunk as he nodded and the three then continued down the street together. It was a silent walk down the streets of Cambridge and a couple blocks away from Harry's apartment they went inside of a scuzzy looking pub called 'The Winchester'.

Inside was a small group of five men waiting for them, all in the same type of wear Harry had adopted and two girls dressed almost identically to Lexi. Draco raised his eyebrow at the group as Harry nervously introduced them.

"Guys this is Draco, Draco this is; Nate, Jamie, Jessika, Shenlea, Smith, Kaena, and Kris," Harry said, and the already drinking group at the booth by the window chorused. Some held out their hands to shake Draco's, adorned by the Malfoy signet ring and his own very expensive ring - they took notice of not only the wealth but the air that fell off of him. 

As Draco made to remove his jacket, Harry nervously looked at him from his seat beside Lexi at the large booth. "Er, maybe you shouldn't..uhm..." he looked nervously between his closely eyeing friends and the blonde man who shrugged and took off his jacket as if it were nothing. Beneath he was wearing what Harry expected; a long cloak that hung loosely around his clothing. Beneath it was regular, muggle clothing though he doubted Draco had bought it from a muggle retailer.

"What in the devil are you wearing, mate?" Jamie asked, his eyebrows fully raised.

"I could ask you the same question," Draco snuffed with a disgusted look crossing briefly across his face before replacing it with a smug one, "I own a very successful clothing store, one I doubt any of you would ever set foot in," he snorted.

"Whatever," Nate grumbled with a flip of his hand before raising his pint, "We drink here, and if you ain't a friend you gotta go! Even if you're Sins' new toy," he winked and then took a large gulp of the tap.

"New toy?" Draco raised his eyebrow and shook his head, raising his hand in slight protest, "I do not know why little kitty cat over here and now you people insist on me being Pott- _Sin's_ toy, but that is and never will be me," he snapped curtly and then snaked his arm around Harry's neck, who was in a deep crimson blush, "Though, eventually it may be him that becomes the toy," he felt triumphant at the immediate reaction, Harry shoving him aware in a red fit. 

"Okayokayokay...can we just get fuckin' drunk?" Harry growled, and everybody including his blonde friend broke into laughter and cheered to that.

It was a long couple of hours before the two stumbled back to Harry's apartment in the darkness, it was cold and raining lightly but they were singing as they strode down the street. It was the same song that Jamie and Nate had got stuck in their head whilst at the bar. As they laughed, chortled and swang arm-in-arm they finally landed heavily, and soaking upon Harry's couch.

"Coffee, my friend," Draco rasped. Harry laughed and nodded, as he stood it was shakily so and he couldn't make a straight line to the kitchen, he nearly tripped over his own feet. 

"Black?"

"Please," the blonde groaned, he already felt the effects of tomorrow morning creeping in, "Potter, you've got some hard mates..." Draco laughed lightly.

"Yeah, if hard is the new word for alcoholics then yeah," Harry returned to sit beside the other man and handed him a cup of coffee as he took a large gulp of his own.

"I can see how you haven't gone crazy here yet...living as a muggle. If you've got good friends..."

"But was it worth the prize of giving up my other ones?" Harry snapped in response, he'd rather not talk about friends. It always made him think too much about Hermione and Ron, and that was a pain he knew would never go away.

"Harry...maybe you should go see them," he suggested lightly, his hand reached out and gently touched his knee cap. Harry flinched but did not pull away.

Harry shook his head and took another drink, avoiding the suggestion, "How is the Potion going?"

"Five more days," Draco didn't prod at his change of subject, though he was slightly disappointed. Every time the two of them got close to talking about something important or emotional or of the past - anything Draco desperately wanted to understand - Harry would successfully change the topic, "Studying?"

"Finished reading, brought me more books?"

"Yes...left them in the car, though. Might as well go get them now, I should get going..."

"Draco, you drank. A lot," Harry warned slowly.

"So? I can drive well enough..."

"Not that far, no. You actually think I'm going to let you drive home?"

"Well, what do you suggest, it is getting late and I need to go. I cannot apparate in this condition, I would splinch myself!" Draco scorned lightly, finishing off his coffee as well.

"Stay the night," Harry suggested. Even though they weren't on the best of terms, he was more comfortable with that than the blonde leaving.

"I do not sleep on couches, Potter,"

"I thought we were grown-up enough," Harry smirked in mocking. He still felt the rum coursing through him and as always, his lust was higher than usual in this state as he could barely take his emerald eyes off of Draco's silver ones. He wanted to reach out and tangle his hands in platinum hair, and he was barely restraining himself, it was the nicest blond hair he had ever seen on a boy, it looked unhealthily perfected. Harry thought briefly that it was perhaps to be chalked up to the fact Draco most likely charmed it to be that way, or at least Harry didn't think his vanity was above that. 

Harry could briefly hear the other mumble something but it was incoherent to him but then suddenly it became difficult to breathe. His chest constricted, his throat closed, his eyes went comically wide, they must be playing a trick on him because he could honestly swear that Malfoy was getting closer to him, leaning towards him. And then, those narrow lips, without hesitation, found Harry's...

Harry awoke feeling like he woke from a thousand years of hell, but as he looked beside him to the blonde curled in his arms securely he smiled brightly against him. Pulling the sleeping Slytherin closer, Harry closed his eyes and went back to sleep despite his headache and urge to get up and go to the bathroom. It was too surreal of a moment, he was certain it must be a dream. Why not let the dream continue?

The next time Harry woke, he was cold. He opened his eyes and rubbed them eagerly and found no weight on his arms this time. The bed was empty save for him in his boxers beneath the heavy comforter. With panic striking him, he jumped up from the bed only to fall back onto it again. Once he regained himself he searched his apartment, only to find that Draco wasn't there. He didn't feel the blonde's presence nearby, either. Harry sighed and began to make himself some breakfast.

"What even happened last night? I can't even remember anything past kissing..." Harry mumbled to himself. A heavy dread hung low over top of him not only for the rest of the morning but for the five days that followed. On the third day, he had made a trip to Draco's house only to find that the blonde was not there but the Potion was nearly complete in his room, most of the articles were taken down now, the Pensieve was still present but the timeline and many other things were not. 

Feeling defeated, Harry shut down the shop for a couple of days and allowed Lexi for a paid vacation as he rescheduled all his appointments. He didn't know why he felt so bad. He had had one night stands before, but he could remember all of them unlike this one. Now all he had to do was wait.

Then the day came, the day when the Potion was complete and Harry knew he had to drink it within four hours of completion. Harry waited impatiently, drinking green tea and absently sketching another picture of a bleeding, pulsating heart for a customer as his palms began to sweat. Draco had less than an hour. He had to show, he had been brewing this Potion so meticulously.

Then came the knock at the door, Harry sprang up and answered it and in the process spilt tea on his shirt but he ignored it. Draco allowed himself in silently, he was gripping a green vial in his hands. 

"Drink," He merely said without so much as a greeting.

"Draco, I...I'm sorry about whatever happened the other night, I don't even remember anything..."

"Nothing happened. We kissed and then passed out," Draco spat lightly and then frowned, urging the bottle towards the brunette, "Even the first part should not have happened,"

"Why not?" Harry asked back without hesitation.

"You are Harry Potter, I am Draco Malfoy...you are believed to be dead...I cannot have a relationship with a dead man,"

"Then have one with James Evans," Harry offered quickly. He wasn't sure a relationship was what he wanted, but he knew he didn't want just a study partner, he knew that Draco had changed, immensely so, in their years apart. He wanted to know this new Malfoy, fully. 

"James Evans is a lie," Draco responded curtly, "I do not wish for a relationship with that, either. Now can you please just drink?" he shoved the vial into Harry's hand who quickly uncorked it and with a sigh downed the bottle.

"So...how does this work? How do you tell if I really aren't a Draio?" Harry asked, knowing that this would be the definite answer.

"By the colour of the Lotus," Draco said without any more explanation.

"The colour of the Lotus? Like the flower? Does that even make sense..." Harry cut himself off as a tingling sensation began in his palms. He looked oddly down at them as Draco followed his gaze with a curious look. Harry looked intensely as the sensation furthered itself, becoming greater until a strong warmth rushed through his arms.

All of a sudden, a bud formed from the centre of his right and left palms. "What the-" he started, but was transfixed as the bud cracked open and sprouted a short stem. It quickly flowered outwards as the centre and flower leaves of a red lotus began to form. The sensation slowly came to a stop as Harry now held two red lotus' in his hands. He fingered the silky leaves with fascination as his body surged with magic that wanted to escape.

Draco's eyes were wide, "That...was unexpected," he whispered finally.

"So, I'm not a Draio?" Harry asked with hope.

"No...you most definitely are," the blonde shook his head dumbly, "This Potion works in colour spectrum. If it is a negative and you are not a Draio, the lotus would have been black which means a fake lotus. Otherwise, it will colour itself in reference to the power that Draio holds. Pink was the colour for all the Founding Fathers and purple was Merlin's..."

"So, what does red mean?" Harry asked with a slight tremor. Was it bad? Why was Draco looking so fascinatingly terrified?

"Harry...it means..." he paused as his pale hand came up to rub his forehead in slight disbelief, "It means all of my assumptions were correct. It means that not your level, specifically, is more than theirs but your natural magic is stronger than any of theirs ever was," he whispered and then his silver eyes crept up to fall into the dazed emerald ones until they both fell back unto the red lotus'.

 


	6. Finally Answered

Lexi snapped her fingers again, chucking her tongue loudly in the doorway. Harry finally whirled his head in her direction, his eyes were pained and heavy. "What is wrong with you, Sin?" she demanded harshly, leaning her straight frame against the door.

"What do you mean?" he asked in a tremor.

"You've been slacking off appointments, and the ones you do take are taking twice as long! You never gotta do touch-ups and now you do. Not to mention you won't even join us at the bar any more..." she rolled her eyes and groaned as he only shrugged and turned his back to her and began to doodle again in his sketchbook. He was using the basement area for coming up with new designs, tacking them to the wall most half-finished. 

"Sorry," he mumbled and then continued with his furrowed brows. Lexi sighed and trudged her way back upstairs, she'd prefer company during the downtime of business but for the past two weeks Harry had been rather absent-minded. Ever since the day Red Lotus' sprouted from his palms.

The brunette sighed and put down his pencil, he lay his head in his hands and shook it violently. ' _Why me? Why do these things have to keep happening to me? Now I can't control the power any more, I need to let it out! It hurts not too! And Draco...Gods, what am I supposed to do about that imbecile?'_

As if the blonde had heard his name being called, the man strode into the room, "How are you feeling, Harry? Ready for training?" he chirped.

"But the shop's not closed yet..."

"It is a quarter to six," Draco responded simply.

"Are we actually going to train or just read more today?" Harry grumbled, though he couldn't help oblige Draco in whatever it was they were going to do. The fact of the matter was that nearly everyday ever since they found out about Harry's 'condition' the two had collected and read tirelessly every book even slightly pertaining to celtic magic, dark and light, and anything that even mentioned the Draio.

"It seems as though our resources have run dry," Draco returned, taking a seat, "Of course, I still have librarians double checking all their own resources but I doubt anything else will come up. I am even surprised with how far we have gotten," he smiled hopefully at the brunette's back. He could feel the tension, he could feel how stressed Harry was and how yearning his power was to be set free. Each day, Draco was beginning to understand Harry's absence from their world, it was so flawed, especially for the brunette. 

"Draco?" Harry called softly after a few moments of silence, he swivelled around in his chair and held a look of sadness and curiosity in his emerald eyes.

"What is it, Harry?" the blonde responded softly, edging closer to the end of his seat wishing to quickly close the gap between them. They still hadn't talked about the incident that never really occurred all that time ago. 

"I-I want to know. Why are you helping me? This has nothing to do with you, so why?" his voice was a gentle whisper, there was some pain in it and Draco urged to reach forward and kiss it off his face. Instead ,he restrained himself, not knowing how the brunette would react and not wanting to ruin the precious time he already got to spend with the person who he had been obsessing over for years now.

"Because you deserve it. _I_ deserve it after looking for you for  _years_. I haven't got a better explanation than that, Harry. You deserve help, you deserve me, you deserve a friend...you deserve whatever you want," Draco choose his words wisely, he recalled how Harry Potter would act back in school how he deserved nothing but ill treatment and bad luck, though he was happy to oblige back then, he had spent many months contemplating otherwise. 

Harry looked up slowly through shining eyes, he began smiling largely over at Draco who smiled back gracefully, "Did I ever say that I wanted you?" he asked unexpectedly, obviously ignoring the red tinge to his cheeks.

"No. But I, uh...shit, I didn't mean...Christ," Draco swore, looking down at his hands and turning a shade of pink.

Suddenly, Harry stood up and closed the distance between them. He had thought about it for so many days now, he didn't care about the repercussions because there really weren't any. There were no friends to hate him for snogging Draco Malfoy, there was no war, no Dark Mark visible on his forearm any longer. Just him and the Draco he wanted to get to know more, the one he wanted to feel velvety lips again. He climbed on top of Draco and cupped the man's face in his calloused hands, bending his neck to bring their lips together tightly. Draco moaned immediately against the touch and wrapped his arms around Harry, they kissed softly and gently, until Harry became greedy. He wasn't used to tenderness, to moving slowly. 

A cough at the door interrupted them, "How many times have I had to see this? And you said he wasn't your toy," Lexi drawled sarcastically with a look of playful disgust on her face, "So, are you coming out tonight, or not?"

Harry scrambled off of Draco who smirked as he readjusted his clothing, the brunette was bumbling embarrassingly as he returned to his corner now, amidst his papers and pencils, "I think what _Sin_ is trying to say is that no, we will not be joining you tonight for we have plans or our own," the blonde said, Lexi merely rolled her eyes in resonse. 

"Have fun," and with that she had left them alone. There was an awkward, elongated silence hanging heavily in the room.

"So, er, what are we doing tonight?" Harry asked shakily, and upon hearing the others icy laughter he stiffened. 

"Harry...I just thought you and I could talk about things over dinner and we can start our training the next time I can make it back here," Draco suggested lightly, standing up from his chair. 

"Er, right, sure," Harry quickly mumbled and then finally turned toward Draco. His eyes were moving rapidly and he was gnawing on his lower lip, Draco nearly burst out laughing from how cute he looked, "Just lemme go get changed," he said and with that the two walked quietly out of the shop and up to Harry's apartment, Draco smirking bemusedly the entire time.

Whilst Harry was in his bathroom he was well aware of a blonde man sitting on his bed, idly flipping through one of his sketch books. Harry blushed furiously and told himself to take a few breaths, but still that didn't seem to help. He stared at his helpless self in the mirror and tried to hold it together. He had never been this nervous when it came to another boy, ever. What was so different this time?

 _'Well, this time it is a Wizard. Not just a Wizard, but Draco-fucking-Malfoy. The same boy who tortured you through-out school, the same boy who tried to kill you during the Final Battle, the same boy who would die under Voldemort's name...God, Potter, what have you gotten yourself into now?'_ With one last worried glance at himself, Harry took a deep breath and walked back into his bedroom looking as collected as he possibly could given the circumstances.

"I am only agreeing to go with you to dinner if you answer some questions for me," Harry stated a little more harshly than he would have wished, he sent Draco a sympathetic smile afterwards - the blonde had changed, after all, he wasn't the same Malfoy he knew before although the similarities were unavoidable.

"Fine by me, are you ready?" Draco chirped, his mood didn't seemed lessened by Harry's want to inquire. The brunette felt strange about this, for the other man hadn't been in a good mood at all ever since the incidence weeks ago that they had avoided like the plague. What had gotten into him?

"You look wonderful, by the way," Draco purred just before they entered the usual French restaurant and Harry turned a deep crimson colour, the blonde merely chuckled as they were led to a table for two. Harry appeared and felt so out of place, but it was the only place Draco conceded to eat at. 

"How have you been feeling about everything?" Draco asked with concern, all their new knowledge was indefinitely a burden on Harry.

Harry sighed, his head sank slightly but he forced a smile onto his face but it never reached his cheeks, "Fine. Well, the best I can be...I've just had a lot dumped on me in the past couple of months,"

"Oh," Draco's face fell and the brunette immediately felt bad for his poor choice of words.

"No, no! Not you, definitely not you, Draco!" he quickly said, "Just this whole Draio thing...I...I don't know what any of it means, what am I supposed to do?"

"Nothing. Nobody is expecting anything of you," the blonde explained softly, "I just think you should recognize and exercise your full potential. You could achieve anything you want to in the Wizarding World. Imagine it; the new classes, spells, potions, the endless discoveries!"

"What if I don't want any of that?"

"Then you do not need to accept it, I am just asking you to consider it," Draco shrugged and then leaned forward in his seat onto the table smiling crookedly, "I thought you had questions for me, Harry," he whispered.

"Urgh, yeah," Harry blushed and leaned backwards on his own seat, shrinking away from the heat he felt coming from the blonde, "Uhm...Chronologically?"

Draco laughed, "However you want,"

"Ah, okay...erm...I guess I might as well just cut to the chase," he mumbled with his eyes focused on the tablecloth, "Why did you follow Voldemort?" as soon as the words had left Harry's mouth, Draco's smile fell completely.

"Harry..."

"Please," the brunette quickly interjected, "I need to know,"

"Why do you need to know?" Draco hissed in anger, "He is dead and gone, there is no reason for bringing this up!" he slammed his fist down on the table causing couples and groups near them to glance in curiosity.

"I need to know because...because, I can't let myself take any of this further without knowing," 

Draco sighed in defeat, he knew that these questions would have to come up one day with all the time he spent with Harry lately, he just wanted to avoid them as much as possible. "I was just doing what I had to in order to survive. I never even cared much for the War, or what Voldemort stood for. I was not for it or against it, no matter what I proclaimed during school," he spoke earnestly and although Harry could tell that he was being truthful he was still weary of the words.

"What would have happened if you didn't follow him? Why couldn't you let Dumbledore protect you...he would've! I would've!"

"I know that, Harry, but that would mean giving up my family and everything I had ever known. My Father would have automatically disowned me at best," Draco shook his head, "I am quite glad the bastard is dead now, though,"

"At best? What else would he have done?" Harry questioned softly and without thinking he reached forward and gently grabbed Draco's fist which loosened and warmed at the others touch.

"He would have given me to the Dark Lord and there is no doubt in my mind of that," the blonde smirked half-heartedly, "Oh, Father, you would be turning in your grave if you could see me now..." he darkly chuckled.

"If you didn't care about any of it then why did you try to kill me?" Harry gulped, recalling the scene of the Final Battle.

_Harry breathed heavily, his eyes were slitted and focused on the figure of Voldemort in the distance being warded off by the Aurors, barely. He needed to get to him, needed to end his life before anybody else got hurt but he was being held back by the brigade of Death Eaters. He was certain he felt the Dark Lord's eyes fall on him, determined to find him, to eliminate all of those between the two of them._

_"Stupefy!" he screamed at the top of his lungs and from his extended wand snapped out a powerful jet, it hit all those Death Eaters close to him sending them flying away and crashing painfully to the ground, motionless. He was knocked back by the power, heavy rain fell down upon his face, he lay in the thickening mud with his scar pounding, light trickles of blood flowing from it._

_"Look what we have here," a voice drawled from behind him, and before he could react with trained quickness he felt the effects of a Body Bind washing over him. 'Goddamit, now you've done it! He has you, Malfoy has you!' he thought to himself as the blonde came to a position sneering in front of him, "Little Potty, down in the dirt like you always should have been," Draco raised his wand directly in line with Harry's chest. His emerald eyes went wild, he could do nothing but try to throw off the curse._

_"I have been..." but Draco's words were cut off, he had looked deep into those eyes and saw something else there. Something much like fear, but the bravery overpowered it. The determination. There was a look held in Harry's eyes, The Boy Who Lived, that he had never experienced before in his entire life. The blonde choked, then he heard his Father's call for him in the distance. The Death Eater's were beginning to fall back and he knew he had to act now. Act now or die._

_Draco screamed at the top of his lungs, "Avada Kedavra!" and green light emitted softly from his wands end and hit Harry in the chest, but the brunette did not fall backwards on his head but instead his eyes merely squinted in pain and then the light faded. Draco stood flabbergasted as Harry regained himself and stood._

_"You'd better run, Malfoy," he whispered. "The Aurors are coming to find me and they won't be kind to you," Harry's eyes were averted from the blonde and off into the distance where the battle was surely approaching them._

_"But - I, why are you not dead, Potter?!" Draco screeched angrily, unsure of why Harry wasn't even trying to fight back._

_"Go, NOW!" Harry ordered and the blonde looked towards the impending battle and needn't be told a third time. He growled and turned to leave the scene and that was the last he had seen of Harry Potter until the day of the Death Eater trials._

"I had been in the role my Father made for me for so many years, if he found out I had you in my clutches and did not even try..."

"It didn't work because you didn't actually want to. The thing about Unforgivables is that you need to _mean_ it," Harry interjected, it was the reason why he had never been too upset about Draco, because he knew he never really meant any of it. Those simple seconds they shared on that field, they told him more about him then the previous six years did. 

"Yes, well, does that not prove something?" he spat more to himself than to the company he was keeping.

"I don't want you to prove anything, Draco, I just need to know these answers," he sighed, "I get it, I get all the Death Eater bullshit you had to go through, for your safety and your Father and I'm kinda actually glad you did it all...because it made you turn out safe in the end," Harry sheepishly grinned but then it fell into a confused look, "But the most important question is why? Why the room? Why all these years haven't you stopped?"

"You already asked me this," Draco shifted uncomfortably in his seat, he didn't know exactly how to respond to those questions without revealing things he wasn't even certain of himself. 

"I'm asking again and I want a better answer this time," Harry urged.

"At first, I had no idea why. I guess I was just curious as to why you saved me and I still need to know that. It drove me mad for the longest time, not knowing why you never even tried to curse me, bind me or have me arrested. On the day of the Death Eater trials you were not yourself and it seemed as though I was the only one who could tell. For a while there I thought maybe I had been slipped a poison, a version of the Imperius Curse, perhaps an aversion of Confundous. I mean, I saw your friends, the Mudblood and the Weasel, and they didn't even seem to notice. They didn't even seem concerned, but I could see, even from the distance, I could tell something wasn't right with you that day. When it turns out all the Death Eaters were sentenced to execution, I was even more propelled to find you to thank you. I mean, I am literally in your debt still to this day. Then when all those newspapers kept harping that you were dead, I could not believe them because I was still so damned curious. I selfishly didn't want to believe the reports, I even tried a Locater's Spell but it never worked, I watched the Mudblood do one, too, to no avail. Now I know it is due to you not wishing to be found but still...I could not believe you had gone, not permanently, not when so many things didn't make sense to me, still. Over the years when you were sighted though still believed dead, I was becoming more enthralled in your disappearance. There was no way you had so many look-a-likes. 

"I kept asking myself; Why would he just leave like that, he is our Saviour! Why would he throw everything away when the War was finally over? Of course, I had my own theories but I will keep those to myself because I know the true reason for your disappearance now. After four years of following every clipping and memory of you striving to find one more clue in the mass of it all, I then realized I was over the brink of obsession - obsessed about _Harry Potter_ , nonetheless! I eventually came to terms with it knowing I would never be able to let go until I found you. When I found you, is when I came into the epiphany of why I really never stopped searching," Draco took a deep breath and looked at the blushing Harry, he couldn't surpress his smile - the brunette always looked so cute despite the eyebrow piercing and tattoos when he was blushing.

"A-and, what reason is that?" Harry choked out, though he knew the affectionate answer already just by the look in Draco's eyes and he wondered if the blonde would understand his answer in return.

"That..." Draco trailed off and looked down at the table before back into Harry's eyes, he reached forward and grasped his hand tightly in his own and allowed a smirk to slowly form on his angelic face, "That I really like you, Harry. I always have, I was just too much of a bratty kid to realize it before. I was jealous in first year, when you denied my friendship, I was intrigued in Madame Malkin's just by the state of you. I was obsessed from day one," he smiled and brought the others hand to his mouth and left a kiss lingering there.

"I-I like you, too," Harry admitted after a while, blushing and breaking the eye contact. Draco squeezed his hand tighter, making the brunette grin.

"Now, I have got a few questions of my own," Draco added in seriously.

"What were you and the other two Gryffindorks arguing about before you ran into me at the Ministry after the trials?" Draco asked with determination, making Harry squirm but he dared not let go of his hand.

"They didn't think it was right that I saved you...I had told them what happened during the Final Battle and they didn't understand my reasoning," Harry shrugged, he didn't like talking about his old friends.

"Why did you save me during The Final Battle, and during the Trials?" Draco urged on, holding on tighter to the brunette's hand - these questions were so vital to his thirsting curiosity which had been building over the years.

Harry looked nervously away before shrugging gently, "During the Battle, the fact that you couldn't kill me told me you really didn't want any of this...so I knew I had to save you. I couldn't watch another one of my classmates killed. Same thing at the Trials; you were the first Wizard I had ever spoken with other than Hagrid, you were there for seven years even if it wasn't on the best of terms, you were still _there_. I knew I didn't mortally hate you, that it was just childish bickering magnified by the War, and I didn't want to see you get a life sentence in Azkaban. I couldn't," Harry was speaking quietly, the waitress interrupted them and cast a small smile down at their conjoined hands, lying on top of the table. As Harry attempted to let go, Draco only held on tighter as she placed their meals before them. 

Once she left, the blonde smiled gently, "You have no idea how much I thank you for that, Harry. I owe you everything I am,"

"No, no, please don't say that," Harry sighed and frowned, "I just want everybody to be safe, you know? Everybody to be happy. I want you to be happy," he found himself mumbling underneath his embarrassment.

"When I am with you, I am," Draco without hesitation admitted, Harry shifted uncomfortably again, "I just need to know one more thing; Why did you get a tattoo on your left forearm like the Dark Mark? I mean, the exact same place as the Dark Mark? What does it stand for? What does it say?" he asked, Harry was chuckling lightly at the mere mention of the inked Celtic cross on his arm.

He rolled up his sleeve and placed it on the table, Draco looked down at it admiringly - it was well done with a red jewel in the middle, gleaming brightly as though it were real, "It was the first one I got," Harry smiled in remembrance, "The writing on the Celtic circle, tying it altogether, are the names of those close to me that were lost because of the War. There is; Lily Evans, James Potter, Cedric Diggory, Sirius Black, Charlie Weasley, Dean Thomas, Rubeus Hagrid, Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape," Harry finished with a slightly skewed smile.

Draco's mouth dropped open, "Sorry, but did you say _Snape_?" he questioned.

"Yeah...I know Snape didn't care much for me but he helped us win the war - without him I doubt it would have ever happened. Plus, I spent my last two Wizarding Christmas' in his presence and he was always there even though it may have been forced by Dumbledore," Harry snickered.

"I think it is a beautiful tattoo," Draco smirked, finally releasing Harry's hand and picking up his fork to begin eating.

"Don't you wanna know what my other ones are about?" Harry asked with a grin, shoving a bit of salad into his mouth.

"Uh, should I?" Draco asked in return, before taking a small bit of his own entrée.

"No, because they ain't got no meaning," Harry laughed whilst Draco shook his head. They enjoyed the rest of the meal with no more further inquiries, the two were just happy to be spending time together away from all their past troubles and present ones, two nearly normal men, amidst the normalcy of muggle's. 

On their walk home, Draco bravely placed his arm around Harry's waist and pulled them tightly together, Harry didn't protest, he also subconsciously noted how comfortable he was beginning to feel around the magic that surrounded him. He smiled up at the taller yet skinnier man, "So, are we allowed to talk about us yet?"

Draco smirked playfully, he looked down at emerald eyes that were slightly covered by brunette fringe, "I would really like for whatever we have to continue. I think we have to have a little talk about the eyebrow piercing, though...and you have to _promise_ to never get any more tattoos!" he grinned, half-serious. 

"The eyebrow stays, but I don't fancy any more ink, any way...at least not yet," Harry allowed his own arm to find its way to Draco's lower back, his hand clamped on the outside of the blonde's cashmere jacket, "But I thought you couldn't have a relationship with a dead man,"

Draco sighed as they came to the stairs leading up to Harry's apartment, they stopped just outside the door as light drops of rain pattered on their faces and the street. The blonde boldly took Harry's face into his hands and stroked the soft skin, the brunette blushed but didn't shy away as he usually would have done. Draco leaned downward and pressed his lips tightly to Harry's, they stayed like that lightly kissing for a couple of minutes. When Draco leaned back, Harry's eyes looked upon the most beautiful sight he had ever seen.

Draco's eyes were lightly closed and his pale face was smiling so brightly his teeth were poking out of the corners, he looked completely serene. Harry couldn't help the goofy smile that fell into place on his face as well.

"Normally, I would not even attempt a relationship with somebody living like a common muggle. But you, Harry, I think I can make an exception. I need to be with you, it is what I have always wanted even though I may have not known it," Draco was looking straight at him now and leaned in once again for another quick kiss. Harry sighed and leaned himself against Draco's touch, he ended up placing his forehead lightly on his cheek and rubbing gently.

"I guess I had better be off now, driving in the rain is never fun," Draco reluctantly leaned back and placed another chaste kiss on Harry's forehead, turning away from the brunette he began towards his parked car.

"But, aren't you even going to stay the night?!" Harry called helplessly, he wanted to feel those lips on him again.

Draco stopped and couldn't help the mischevious grin forming on his face, he turned on his heal and determinedly walked over to the brunette. He shoved him against the door leading to the stairs of his apartment, he pressed his body firmly up against him and hungrily devoured his mouth. Draco forced his tongue inside with little resistance, his hands wandered up Harry's jacket and onto the smooth skin beneath his layers of clothing. He bit his lower lip, Harry hissed and sighed contentedly all at once. He ended the kiss and abruptly grabbed Draco's hand and quickly led him upstairs.


	7. Mornings After

Harry yawned largely, stretching his arms over his head. It was only then when he remembered what happened last night and he blushed, but it fell away when he noticed that it was only him in the bed. He sighed, where had Draco gone to? Did he run out on him once he had fallen asleep? But then the brunette's face broke into a smile as he realized he still felt the magical presence in the area separate from his own, he got up and followed the strong smell of coffee into the kitchen where Draco was sitting reading the already delivered Muggle post.

Harry smiled brightly and joined him at the table after pouring himself a cup of coffee, "What has gotten you so happy?" Draco barely looked up from the paper.

"You're still here," Harry simply said and took a sip of his coffee, sighing contently afterwards.

"And...?"

"And that's never happened with me before. I've never had somebody whose wanted to stay the whole night after...after, y'know," Harry blushed gently.

Draco finally set down the paper after folding it, he looked to the man to his right. He reached out and grasped Harry's hand, "I would not have stayed if I realized that you had no sufficient foods in this entire place," he smirked causing Harry chuckle.

"You prat," he shook his head, "I always go out. I think I have oatmeal," Harry suggested, caressing the others hand.

"It does not matter any more, I should be going, anyway. Nathaniel will be driven mad with worry," Draco sighed, he knew he had already missed appointments that morning and was due at the shop a couple of hours ago.

"He's that co-worker, right?" Harry asked, his tone a little more rushed than he wished it was.

"You need not worry about him, Harry, he is just a friend," Draco assured him with a pat on the hand before he downed his coffee and stood up, "I still have business to attend to, however, but if you want I can come back tomorrow and we can start formal training..."

"Urgh, ruin the good mood why don't you!" Harry grumbled, crossing his arms but also slowly standing up as well. The two walked to the door simultaneously, Harry still just in his briefs which made Draco check him over once and grin to himself. He hadn't only found Harry Potter, Harry Potter was also now His. He felt triumphant taking his leave that morning. 

"Goodbye, Harry. Thanks," Draco smiled sincerely and leaned in to chastely kiss him on the lips before moving away once more. The blonde was off down the stairs before Harry leaned out of the doorway and called, "Seeing you later!" and then cringed with how absolutely pathetic it had sounded. 

The days passed by very much the same; Draco would come and go as he saw fit, though the shop was getting busier. They would do hours of training, slowly bringing Harry from generally wandless magic up to challenging Draio magic. It was exhausting to say the least, Lexi was becoming concerned though never voiced it because Harry was taking less and less appointments - not like the shop needed the money, somehow the brunette always had it covered. The girl wasn't sure if that made her more or less concerned. 

They were becoming more comfortable around one another, their relationship slowly budding and the two of them easily forgetting and forgiving the events of their past. They were frequent to the bar with Harry's Muggle friends, though they weren't fond of Draco's arrogant attitude, and there were quite a few times when the blonde would be found buzzing about the kitchen in the morning when Harry woke. It was the oddest, though greatest feeling, Harry had experienced, waking up to a fresh pot of coffee and a man sitting at his table, absently reading in the morning light. 

"Alright, one more thing before we stop," Draco urged from his spot on Harry's tacky couch, the brunette groaned and looked wearily at him.

"But Draco...I'm so exhausted!" Harry whined, and he was. His eyes were barely keeping open and his entire body was sweating. They had been practising for over eight hours and Harry had made quite the improvement.

"I know, dear," the blonde smiled gently, "But I just want to do a Fire Duplication again, you had trouble with that one earlier," his tone was firm but his eyes were kind on Harry, who merely rolled his own.

"Fine," he grumbled and then stood in the middle of the room in front of the pile of newspapers they had been using. The brunette put his hands at his side and then tightly closed his eyes, he breathed deeply for a few moments before clearly speaking the incantation. " _Scaoil_ ," a sheet of newspaper rose from the ground and crumpled itself into a ball at the same time Harry closed his right fist firmly, he then brought his arm upwards and the ball rose and as his face tightened fire erupted the entire thing. " _Sainmhiniu_ ," he hissed and a small, yellow light concentrated on his closed fist and on the fireball. Suddenly, there were five more in the enclosed room, Draco's eyes widened. Good thing it was a controlled fire and Harry's weariness was not going to allow him to go further. The brunette slowly released his fist and the fire stopped, the newspaper fell blackened but not ashes to the ground. Harry nearly collapsed right there, but was thankfully pulled down onto the couch into Draco's arms. The blonde rested the others head on his lap, he smiled down at the exhausted man.

"That was perfect, Harry. You really are amazing...do you believe me now?" he leaned down to ghost a kiss across his forehead. 

"Mmph...right now I don't care either way," Harry grumbled uneasily, shifted his weight and smiling gently. He was happy to be lying in Draco's lap, even if that meant having to give into his fears of using magic once again. And to be honest, studying the way he was, understanding the movements, the currencies, what lie beneath the incantations and wands, made him more comfortable than he could ever remember being with it, especially since the end of it all. 

Draco laughed lightly and waited for the brunette to be fast asleep before carrying him to his bed and tucking him in. He smiled down at him lovingly one last time before kissing him on the cheek and taking off to clean up the living room, with his wand, of course. He refused to not only live in the disaster Harry had built around him, but to clean it like a common muggle. Within merely ten minutes he even had dinner made, tofu stirfry, one of his personal favourites, which he plated in the fridge for Harry to eat later. He thanked magic, he really wouldn't know what he would do with himself if he had to ever prepare a meal without his wand but with it...it was just like brewing Potions. Draco was glad he could do that for Harry; not only was his efforts forcing him to eat not only well but even at all, which was more than Draco could say when he first had run into him, but he seemed much less bothered by his presence, or the presence of his magic, to be more specific. He knew it was helping him, in the slightest of ways, even if his motives were selfish. 

After he doubled back to check Harry was still fast asleep, Draco scribbled a quick note before leaving, locking the door with his wand behind him. He never did trust muggles, especially in such a building Harry lived in. On his way downstairs, he stopped into the shop to say his farewells to Lexi. 

"Is he going to come down tonight or will I have to keep piercing everybody?" she drawled lightly.

" _Sin's_ busy," Draco shrugged, always having to grind out the name with extraneous effort, "Well, more like he is passed out,"

"What's wrong with him lately?" she crossed her arms, raising a brow at him. 

"Sick. Yes, he's sick. Just a cold," Draco shrugged, he knew she was referring to his absence, his weariness. 

"Are you guys coming Friday?" she asked.

"Why not?" the blonde shrugged, actually becoming accustomed to those nights at the bar. With that he nodded his goodbye and left off towards his parked car. It was almost seven at night now and the sun was setting slowly on Cambridge. His whole drive back, all Draco could think of was the angry man he knew he would have to face once he was home. Instead, he tended to the shop first before confronting him, he stowed himself away in his office - small and crammed with papers, he really hadn't been keeping it much at all lately, he was too consumed with his trieste's with Harry. 

When he finally came home it was quite late at night, Draco was surprised to find the brunette in his kitchen slowly sipping wine and hovering over a book of papers, "Nate, what are you doing here so late?"

"What are you doing not showing up at all today and coming home so late?" he quickly countered, glowering up from his work and at the blonde.

Draco shrugged, "Is that any of your business?" he questioned lightly before peering in his fridge, he spotted salad and quickly took it out, sitting down across from Nate and forking into it. 

"It is my business when I am left here to worry about you and take care of _our_  business, by myself!" Nate screamed, leaving a hollow echo, vibrating through-out the house.

Draco raised his eyebrow, "Nathaniel, do refrain from yelling in my house," he merely responded.

"Draco, stop this!" the other man had lowered his voice, but his anger remained, "Where have you been going all this time? It has been weeks since you've been yourself!"

The blonde thrust his fork on the counter top with a clatter and looked up at his friend with furious eyes, "I have not felt more happy being myself in _years_ , Nathaniel! Now would you  _please_  excuse me so I can enjoy the rest of..."

"Oh, I see what this is. You are skivvying off your work duties for a good shag? Pfft, I should have seen it, you poof!" Nathaniel screeched, standing up from his chair and huffing heavily. "I knew that it was only me that had feelings for you, I knew that Draco! That's fine, okay? That's fine! But you can't just leave me here constantly dealing with our shit. I'm still your best friend! You can't just keep leaving and expecting me to pick up all your slack," Nate grumbled, he was shaking his head now and roughly rubbing his aching temples.

Draco felt earnestly bad, he didn't know how much pain he was causing, being happy and spending time with Harry. He knew he had missed a monotonous amount of time away from the shop, helping balancing the books, with shows, getting the next seasons catalogue prepared... "Nate," he whispered gently, "I apologize, it is just difficult because it is not like I can just bring my boyfriend around here," he tried to explain.

"And why not? Are you ashamed of us, your shop? Me? What is it?" Nathaniel pleaded.

"No, that is not it at all. It is just that he...he is not part of this world," Draco said pointedly, dawning realization flickered across the others face.

"You mean that you, Draco Malfoy, are with a _Muggle_?" Nathaniel whispered, disgust lacing the word.

"No, Gods no!" Draco denied quickly, throwing up his hands, "He is a pure Wizard, purer than even myself dare I say, but he has chosen a life amongst Muggle's. I respect that, I cannot make him change his mind either...I wish I could," the blonde huffed, he knew he couldn't keep leaving his life just to spend time with Harry and when it got down to it he had no idea which one he would choose. He hoped that for a long time he wouldn't have to make any of those decisions. 

Nathaniel seemed to be contemplating this and then he frowned lightly, "Fine, just please finish the payroll for me?" and with that last word he was gone. Once Draco heard the door close, he shoved his salad away and put his head between his hands, his nails dug into his hair. He felt just as tired as he knew Harry looked.  He also knew he had to stop seeing Harry so often, and the brunette wouldn't like that but Draco knew he would understand. Or at least hoped he would. 

 


	8. Anniversary

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was written years ago and is simply a cross-post, I am not quite fond of most of it, though it's light-hearted and fun it's not quite thought out and very short, at least IMHO. Anyway, I just wanted to add a warning here that I know, time skips immensely with this next chapter.

It was their anniversary. One year. Harry felt light-headed as he paced his storefront, counting the seconds on his watch. Lexi was watching him with a curious raised eyebrow.

 _'One year...how did I ever end up in a relationship, happily, for a whole year?! Gods, I hope Draco likes my surprise...'_ Harry thought to himself nervously, he brought his painted black fingernails up to his mouth and began to gnaw on them. He was sweating lightly, even though it was cold from the rainy weather in early February.

"Alright, what the hell is wrong with you?" Lexi finally voiced herself, making Harry jump towards her with a scrunched up face.

"I-er, it's our anniversary today. I'm just...worried is all," he muttered quickly, blushing gently as he spoke.

"Worried about what?"

"Whether or not Draco'll like his present," he smirked at the thought of it but that fell away once he became nervous once more.

"I'm sure he will, Sin. Honestly," she rolled her eyes and went back to her book but when she heard his heavy breathing and pacing start up once more she was too distracted to read any so placed it harshly on the glass table.

"Do you-do you think that...that...I look alright?" he asked unexpectedly, looking down at his clothes.

"Depends," she shrugged surveying him.

"Depends? Depends on what?!" Harry was quite the wreck now, he walked over to the full length mirror near the customers door in the corner, he looked himself up and down and couldn't figure out anything that was wrong.

"Depends if you're a poof or not. And Draco, is so obviously a poof," she chortled at her boss' obvious relief, "I used to like the way you dressed, man, now it's almost proper and shit,"

"Hey, I still dress like I used to!" he protested quickly, "But only when he's not around because y'know he hates it," Harry smiled at that. Memories of the countless times Draco dragged him into high class Muggle fashion stores to get him fitted suits, button shirts, fancy slacks, and he would even send him Wizarding clothes from his own store via owl, those which he would stow away - what purpose did he have for them, anyway? 

"You are  _so_  whipped," Lexi teased.

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am..." Harry's back straightened up and he quickly but his play fight with Lexi behind who stared at him curiously, emerald eyes snapped towards the front door to where Draco now stood.

The blonde was smirking bemusedly as he raised his eyebrow eloquently, he was in black attire outlined in silver that matched his eyes. The Malfoy family crest was not only on his usual ring that time but also on the corner of his cloak. Lexi had gotten used to seeing him in odd clothing, Draco refused to dress for Muggles.

"What is it you are apparent not, _Sin_?" Draco drawled, letting his boyfriend's nickname roll seductively off of his tongue. Harry shivered noticeably which caused Lexi to nearly lose herself and bark in laughter, she decided not to as to avoid Draco's wrath.

"Ah, nothing," he shook his head, his messy shaggy hair fell in front of his eyes and faded scar.

Draco laughed lightly, "You seem tense," he observed, "More tense than you were for my birthday," he nearly giggled recalling it.

"Get the ponce outta here, I think I have already had my fill for the day, imagine that," Lexi drawled. Draco laughed in her direction, idly thinking that if she had been at Hogwarts she would indefinitely have been sorted into Slytherin. 

"Will do. Ready, love?" Draco grabbed ahold of Harry's arm, they linked together.

"Er, I guess," Harry muttered, he hit his pants pocket for a moment and then nodded once more. The two said goodbye to Lexi before leavnig the shop and into the light rain on the streets of Cambridge.

"Happy Anniversary, my love," Draco smiled at him brightly.

"Happy anniversary to you, too," Harry smirked though he still seemed nerve-wrecked. They walked hand in hand now, gripping tightly around each others fingers as they usually did.

Harry opened the door to their favourite French restuarant around the corner from his place, the hostess quickly sat them and brought them a red bottle of wine that they ordered, "Thank you, Miss," Draco smiled at the girl who blushed and nodded before leaving them to themselves.

"I swear I am so lucky you're as far from straight as they come," Harry stared menacingly at the waitress' back.

Draco merely laughed and placed his napkin on his lap, "Jealous, are we?"

"Look at you, how could I not be?" Harry smirked.

The rest of their meal was spent as usual; Draco rambling on about business and Harry pretending to listen attentively and responding every time and again, although not often as he preferred to just listen to Draco's voice. It was soft, soothing almost, unlike Harry's who was deeper, rougher. 

 _'Back at Hogwarts I would have never believed this,'_ Harry thought with a grin, ' _We are perfect for each other and always have been. He has what I don't, I am what he isn't,'_

"What are you smirking at?" Draco interrupted his thoughts, he never liked it when he found out Harry wasn't really paying attention to what he was saying. Especially when it came to business, Harry knew how important it was to him. He had nine shop's now in different parts of the Wizarding World, he was even beginning to do fittings for school robes for Durmstrang, their uniform had changed over the years, thankfully. 

"Nothing, nothing. Go on," Harry urged with an innocent smile, he crossed his hands under his chin. He could sit there all day and listen to him talk, he knew that. He had no idea how things really developed, all he knew was just that he didn't want anything to change. He just wanted the two of them to keep growing closer; and it felt like they did, every time they saw one another.

It was as if Hogwarts had never happened, as if it was a preconceived notion to a life that the two of them weren't a part of. What they were was something completely detatched of that, something that was just the two of them and it was their own. Of course, Harry's thoughts would always wander back to those that were missing and his heart would hang low. But, at least he had some sort of connection to them now, was how he saw it. 

Now that he had been advancing quite thoroughly on Draio ancient magic and coming to the terms of his condition with Draco's help, Harry trusted himself more now. He wasn't afraid to use magic or be around large amounts of it, he could step into Draco's house and not tremble as he used to. It didn't hurt any more, he was in complete control of himself. Sometimes, he would even regret leaving the Wizarding World, but he knew that at that time it was vital. He enjoyed having his own life now, he had successfully escaped the dreadful shouts and tabloids calling him only The Boy Who Lived. 

Harry sighed with contentment and nodded his head at Draco, as if he was still listening even though he had zoned him out almost completely. ' _Those silver eyes. I want to see those eyes every morning for the rest of my life.'_ Harry was smiling largely now, this made Draco talk more animatedly as if the brunette was actually becoming more interested in the fashion industry. As if. Harry continued his daydream, admiring every aspect of Draco to give him more nerves to buck up to do what he wanted to that night, in respects of their anniversary and their entire relationship.

"Harry, are you even listening to me?" Draco snapped, his brows furrowed slightly angrily. Even that expression Harry found adorable. Whenever they fought, which was at least once a week even though they got over it quickly, Harry was always distracted by that expression tenfold.

"Er, sorry," Harry mumbled with a slight tint of red to his cheeks, admitting that no, he had no idea what Draco was rambling about, "I was, erm, thinking about that new Potion I've been attempting to brew," he lied quickly, knowing that if he spoke of practising his Draio magic it would also distract him. 

"The Calming one?" Draco asked, all of Harry's Potions thus far had just been stronger variations of things that Draco himself had brewed. 

"No, I finished with that one. The alternative to Veritaserum, the ingredients are quite impossible to get around here, as you could imagine. I forgot to ask you for mandrake root," Harry thought briefly, it was true he was having difficulties with that brew that sat in his bedroom.

"I am rather impressed and proud of you, Harry," Draco smiled sweetly over a sip of red wine. Harry blushed deeply at the praise, "You have come a long way and I have never seen somebody hold and control so much power in my entire life. That includes Dumbledore," he added, making Harry blush even further, "I knew I was right all that time ago, that you had more potential than you understood. I am glad you agreed to study the art of Draio magic, and I am glad you are even experimenting with it now," Draco was being earnestly appreciative, it always made Harry squirm when he complimented him like this.

"Thanks," he whispered, "Listen, I was wondering if we could drop the work talk for now. It's our anniversary, I'd like to talk about us," Harry said, his voice was shaking slightly as all his nerves came back to hit him.

Draco raised an eyebrow, "Sure thing, love," he nodded, "What about?"

"I, erm..." Harry took a deep breath, which he forgot to exhale for quite some time before continuing. 

"Draco, when you first found me I was terrified. But now, I couldn't have hoped for anything else. You completed me in a way. We've spent so much time and energy together over the past year and I can't say that I've regretted a thing, besides maybe letting you find me sooner or revealing myself to you that night I had snuck into your home," Harry smirked at the thought of it whereas Draco merely shook his head, "You've come to mean so much to me, more than any other person in my entire life has meant. You fixed me when I was broken and your patience with me and this Draio situation, it truly astounds me. You amaze me. You have made me happier than I can remember being," Harry smiled truthfully, all of the love he always felt was pouring out of him now from the corners of his mouth and his emerald eyes. Draco felt like he was going to melt, he didn't know what to respond with so he kept himself quiet and attentive, his heart was welling inside of him. Harry didn't get romantic often, this was a rare occasion.

He continued rather shakily and Draco's pupils widened more than he thought possible when the brunette got up from his chair and lowered himself to the ground in front of his chair. Harry smiled nervously and grabbed onto Draco's slightly trembling left hand, he allowed his lips to ghost over the skin gently as the entire restaurant seemed to be concentrated on them. "I love you with everything I've got," Harry beamed, "So, Draco Malfoy, will you marry me?"

There was silence, from everybody in the room. Harry began to fidget and found himself sweating, Merlin what would he do if the blonde denied him? Maybe this wasn't a good idea. Harry quickly fumbled with the ring box in his pants pocket, he flipped it open and revealed a thick silver ring with a red ruby in the middle, the size of a small pebble. Draco stared at the ring, then back at Harry, then back at the ring unsure of what to say.

"Er...I'd, uhm...like an answer," Harry finally whispered, he felt like the world would crash on his shoulders any moment now. 

"Of course it is yes you, tit, I just do not know how to say it!" Draco snapped playfully, his face finally broke into a large smile and he swept Harry up from the floor and began kissing his face all over as he placed the man in his lap. The restaurant clapped enthusiastically. They stayed like that for several moments but then Harry realized the publicity of this situation, he blushed and slid off of Draco, grinning.

"How about I get our bill?" Harry smirked, the two of them were rather eager to get back to Harry's apartment suddenly.

Draco ravished the brunette as soon as the apartment door came to a close. "I hope you realize, Potter, that you're mind forever, now," the blonde grinned and forcefully leaned Harry over the kitchen table and ground himself down on the other man. 

For the next few minutes, Draco nipped every nook of his fiancé's neck, he licked every crevice as his hands roamed the familiar skin that he could get to without ripping off any clothes. Harry was moaning, begging for more, but he knew the more he begged the less likely Draco was to give it to him - the blonde enjoyed being a complete tease. Harry waited impatiently, making urgent noises in the depths of his throat.

"Draco!" he raised his hoarse voice, "You're gonna make me cum right here in the kitchen, could we please move to the bedroom! _Please_!" Harry pleaded, he felt the energy pulsating between them and knew Draco couldn't last much longer. By the time they hit the bed Draco had somehow removed all of their clothing. 

"Draco..fuck...I love you so much," Harry moaned into platinum Harry as Draco lay on top of him, heaving as he was about to enter his lover.

"Lubricate?" Draco whispered huskily, the brunette nodded and concentrated for a moment before letting his thoughts go again. The couple quickly learned a way to wandlessly lubricate themselves using Harry's Draio abilities long ago, and they practised it thoroughly. It had to, in Harry's honest opinion, the handiest thing he had learned as of yet.

Draco pushed inside of him, causing the brunette to squirm beneath him and buck his hips, pushing Draco deeper into himself. "More," he begged roughly, his eyes clamped tightly shut. Draco was looking down at him adoringly. He lifted his hand to Harry's face and stroked it gently, it was soft but he still hadn't convinced him to get the eyebrow piercing removed - he had grown accustomed to it.

"Open your eyes," Draco whispered and when Harry did he almost lost himself right there. He loved those deep pools of emerald, they always washed delicately over him like a tidal wave. Harry threw his hands up around Draco's back, his nails lightly dug into the soft skin, "I am so in love with you Harry Potter, I am yours,"

"And I'm yours," Harry breathed heavily, he wanted to feel more but he knew there wasn't a way he could. Draco was rested all the way inside of him, but he wanted him to move so he jerked his hips. The blonde's eyes widened and then he smirked devilishly.

"You want more?"

"Mmhmm..." Harry groaned.

"You got it, my love," Draco obliged and began to ease in and out of his fiancé slowly, and then his movements became quicker and more rough. Harry's and his moans would slowly escalate to the mere point of screaming.

Draco came looking into Harry's eyes, he arched his back and unloaded himself fully inside of the other man. Harry was shortly after, but it spilt all over his and Draco's stomach. They both collapsed wrapped around each others limbs, Draco's face buried in the crook of Harry's neck, breathing heavily as he tasted the brunette's familiar sweat.

"I was so nervous," Harry admitted after magically cleaning the both of them up and throwing a sheet over their bodies.

"About what?" Draco asked dumbly.

"Asking for your hand," Harry responded, he nearly felt hurt that the blonde had forgotten.

"How could you ever be nervous about something like that?" Draco quipped with a nuzzle into the shaggy hair. He wrapped himself closer to Harry.

"You never put your ring on, you know. I hope you have room enough with all your other rings," Harry joked lightly, he reached onto the floor and grabbed the ring box and handed it over to the accepting blonde.

"It is a very beautiful ring, my love," Draco grinned as he slipped it on his ring finger, "This is the best anniversary present ever," he nuzzled tighter inwards. "But we need to talk," he finished seriously.

"What about? _Now_?" Harry whined, he didn't like when Draco would get all serious. What could this be about now, honestly?

"Yes, now. It is in reference to marrying me," Draco reluctantly came into a sitting position and pulled Harry along with him. Once they were both leaning against the wall comfortably, Draco's arm around Harry's shoulders, the blonde began slowly.

"Harry, if you want to be with me you need to promise me something," Draco seemed to be nervous now himself.

"Anything," Harry said quickly.

"Well, you need to promise me that before we do get married...promise me that..." he stuttered, he didn't want to say what he was going to say but it was better for the both of them. They needed to do this, together.

"What is it, hun?" Harry asked sweetly, he was becoming concerned now.

"Promise me that you will come back into _Our_ World," Draco rushed out his words in a tremor, he didn't want Harry to deny him because he knew he couldn't continue on this relationship in complete secrecy for much longer. Not only for himself, but his Mother and Nathaniel were about to kill him for not telling them.

"I..I knew you'd ask," Harry sighed with a shrug, "And I'll do it, for you," he smiled softly. "I was prepared to do this six months ago, I just wanted to drag out my time with just you, honestly," he nudged Draco slightly in the ribs playfully.

"I would like you to come out to my Mother first of all, and then you can take your time with everybody else. We will go at your pace, I know how important this is to you," Draco looked at him seriously, and Harry merely smiled brightly back.

"That sounds perfect, when would you like me to re-meet your Mother? Will she keep it to herself?"

"Yes, of course she would. Though, if we tell Nathaniel...so we will wait for your friends to know before we tell Nathaniel," Draco thought aloud, there was noway his best friend would keep his mouth shut with information like that. Not only would it be saying that the great Harry Potter was still alive, unlike popular belief, but he was also now engaged with his once great enemy Draco Malfoy. A Slytherin and a Gryffindor - even if they were done with Hogwarts, the rules still applied. Dark and Light never matched well, but despite all of the obstacles they had made it work wonderfully. And neither doubted the future.

"Then when can I see her?"

"Uh...tomorrow?" Draco asked, it was what he wanted. To tell his Mother as soon as possible, he was itching for a year to tell somebody now - especially her. He was nervous about her reaction, but knew she would take it relatively well and congratulate them. It would also get Harry used to somebody else's magical energy.

Harry groaned, "Great, now I've gotta worry about impressing her..." he slapped his hand to his forehead.

"Love you need not do that. Plus, you are still Harry-Boy-Who-Lived-Potter, I think you are the best pick of the bunch and she will definitely think that as well," Draco smirked as Harry rolled his eyes.

"I don't care, I'm still gonna be nervous as bloody Merlin," he whispered stubbornly.

"Yeah,yeah, love..." Draco leaned over and captured his lips sweetly for a minute, revelling in the taste, "Lets get some sleep, you can worry about it in your dreams," he teased causing Harry to send him a glower which he responded to with a dark chuckle.

Before Harry could drift to sleep his last thoughts were of Ron and Hermione, he sighed before drifting off beside Draco.  _'Instead of me leaving them, will they leave me this time?'_


	9. Reintroduction

Harry grimaced in the mirror, he was wearing an outfit Draco had picked and he himself didn't like it. Although he did look good, he didn't quite look like himself. But he did this not really to please his new fiance, but his new soon-to-be-mother-in-law. He gulped at the thought of it, not particularly excited for the coming events of the day.

"Love, are you ready?"

"No," Harry responded grumpily, there was no way he'd ever be ready to meet Narcissa Malfoy on terms of announcing his marriage to her son. It was just something he never had imagined doing.

"Let me see," Draco ordered in a light tone, he on the other hand was rather excited for the day, he couldn't wait to see his Mother's reaction.

Harry sighed and came out of the bathroom looked dishevelled, "Can you not at least take out the eyebrow?"

"You know the answer to that one," Harry snapped back, although he agreed happily to meet Draco's mother it didn't mean that he was going to _go_ there happily.

"Well, you look gorgeous so let's get going. Mother hates it when I am late," and with that Draco led his rather nervous fiancé downstairs and into his car

"Should I call her Narcissa or Ms. Black, or Mrs. Malfoy?" Harry asked, rather unsure how to go about this whole business. Although he had relationships within the past six years of his life, and there were quite a few of them, never had he gone to meet any of their parents.

"Narcissa will do," Draco had to think about it at first though, most people still referred to her as a Malfoy and not a Black, which he believed his Mother preferred.

"Are you going to tell her about the whole Draio thing?"

"The whole 'Draio thing'?" Draco mocked lightly, he didn't like how Harry would reference his unique abilities as a meek inconvenience instead of as a great discovery. Many times had he tried to explain the potentialities and complete astonishment of what Harry was, but always the brunette looked at it in a different light than he, "No, I will only tell her if you want me too,"

"I don't want you to," Harry said quickly, he didn't want to sound more like a freak to somebody whom when he last saw detested him, "Are you sure it'll be alright if I stay overnight?"

"I am sure, she is not going to murder you in your sleep or anything. Plus, we will be in a complete different part of the Manor," he explained, Draco expected there to be quite a few questions on their drive.

"How big is the Malfoy Manor exactly?" Harry wondered aloud, more to himself than to Draco. He recalled briefly what the blonde was like in school, how he looked down upon second hand objects and also how his robes were always new more than once a semester. He never knew the extent of his wealth.

"Bigger than your apartment," was Draco's answer, but the stern look he got from Harry made him laugh lightly, "Alright, it has an East Wing for Guests, the West Wing was my quarters and where we will be staying, the North Wing is now solely my Mother's though my Father's study remains untouched, and the South Wing is the kitchens and House Elves quarters. There is a courtyard, stables, we own a sampling of the Nagril forest beyond our home and the dungeons - which are strictly out of bounds just because I say so - along with an Owlry. Though, we only have one Owl now since there is not much business to tend to," he laughed harder at Harry's open mouth, "Yeah...it will be nice to be home," Draco grinned.

"You know, I always knew you were a stuck-up git...but who didn't? Still, I guess you had reason to be," Harry muttered, he couldn't believe just how much was to the Malfoy Manor and was becoming even more nervous just thinking about being there, "Does your Mom know you're...you're, uhm.."

"Gay?" Draco substituted for him, and upon Harry's slow nod he smiled, "Anyone could tell I was gay at least a decade ago, honestly," he rolled his eyes and just turned up to the music hoping that would stop the questions.

Little did he realize that even Bach and his Fugue in D Minor blasting out of his cars stereo could put an end to Harry's interrogation. Draco's head was ready to explode when they did finally arrive nearby the Malfoy Manor, all he could tell himself that he only had five more minutes in the car with him. Only five more minutes.

"How many House Elves do you have exactly?"

"For Christ sake Potter, put an end to the questions we are almost there!" Draco snapped haughtily, his grip tightening on the leather wheel after he slammed the off button to the CD player.

Harry just turned to him and put a hand on his thigh and smiled adoringly, "Well...how many?"

"Urgh," Draco grumbled and then thought about it for a second as he turned onto his family's private lane, "About 20 or 25,"

"20 or 25?! Who in the devil needs that many House...Goodness," Harry stopped his inquiry right then and there as Draco came to a stop in front of a twelve foot iron gate, the Malfoy crest was in the centre of it.

He rolled down his window to the speaker com that was there, "Master Malfoy returning with guest," he lazily said and then a beep was heard and the gates slowly opened. Draco rolled the car down the gravel road, and Harry stared in awe at the grounds he was passing by.

"Very Muggle way of entrance," he commented, barely paying attention to what he was even saying.

"Yes, well we saw it fit only House Elves could permit us entrance by intercom, for security reasons," Draco shrugged as he brought his car around a bend that circled a large, marble fountain of a dragon.

As they stepped out of the car and Draco locked it, Harry stood in disbelief at the grounds of the Malfoy Manor still. It was covered in an inch of snow, though the long driveway was cleared of it, he could see the courtyard in the distance and it seemed as though it bended alongside the right of the Manor and to the backyard. That's where the stables must be as well, Harry thought to himself. There were a few statues strategically placed across the front lawn, of wizards and pureblood creatures, each statue had a small garden accompanying it.

"Inside, shall we?" Draco urged, his hands in his pockets and looking rather bored. Of course he did, he grew up there. That simply amazed Harry as he turned, still open-mouthed, to the Manor.

It was rather morbid, which seemed fitting to the Malfoy name. Their family crest was once again carved into the dark stone that built the Manor, it was above the large ten feet oak doors that were wider than Draco's car. "It must be quite the difference living at Hogwarts, and in your house, and definitely sleeping in my apartment," Harry mused as he finally collected himself and began towards the doors with his fiancé.

"Your apartment is vile and you should have moved out of there ages ago," was his only response which made Harry grin softly, Draco was always like that, trying to get a rise out of him when it came to Harry's chosen living arrangements.

Draco opened the door on the right and the two stepped into a large foyer, complete with a marble, twisting and turning staircase which had portraits of Lords and Ladies of past Malfoy generations. Also there were portraits of infamous witches and wizards, Pureblood, of course. Harry glowered at this for a moment, he noticed Grindewald amongst them nearing the middle of the staircase - he couldn't see to the top of it and doubted he could from any angle.

The Manor was most expansive, all of the floors were either polished hardwood or marble. In every room there was quite the elaborate pieces of art, statues and ornaments. A small, scrawny House Elf with an elongated nose and a dark brown tea cosy appeared suddenly in front of them, making Harry jump nervously. His magical core gave a startle as well, it was on high alert ever since he stepped out of the car due to the magical energy in the air. It was beginning to be released and he told himself that he would, later.

"Master Malfoy, welcome home!" screeched the elf with a large smile, Draco merely nodded to its presence.

"Our bags are in the trunk of my car, please take them to my old quarters, Timpy," he ordered with a light tone, the Elf nodded and bowed its head slightly.

"Mistress Malfoy is asleep in her study, she said that when you arrive you may show your guest around and settle in. She will meet your for dinner in the Dining Room at six thirty," and with another bow, the House Elf disappeared once more.

Draco grabbed a hold of Harry's hand and the brunette turned to him and noticed a glint in his eyes, a sudden childish smile came across Draco's lips. "C'mon, you need the grand tour," he smirked and then dragged Harry out of the foyer.

After going through every room in the South and East Wing, which took nearly two hours, Draco and Harry came to the West Wing. There was an unbelievable amount of dragon statues and moving dragon portraits in this area, and Harry was pleased to see the moving paintings. It had been awhile since he had laid eyes on one of those, "Why doesn't your family have more moving paintings?"

"We do, they are up in the corridors of the North Wing," Draco shrugged, and dragged Harry past a few doors, "Most of this was just rooms for me to play in when I was younger, now a lot of them are empty or filled with my old memorabilia. I have a small library, filled with books that are specifically indicated for Hogwarts studies, the only important room up here is my bedroom," he grinned and winked back at Harry who was beginning to feel light-headed with all of the walking and ridiculously chic rooms.

They came to Draco's room, it had a portrait hole which the blonde stared at curiously for a moment, " _Draconis_ , change it to... _Sin_ ," and with that the dragon in the portrait nodded its long scaly neck.

"Your family sure loves dragons,"

"No, they think _I_ do," Draco rolled his eyes and led the way into the room. It was rather large, it had two glass windows facing out onto the courtyard below. There were velvet emerald green curtains pulled to the side by a tassled rope, the bed was a fourposter King Size with emerald silk sheets and drapings, all tied up around the corners. The night table had one lamp on it and a clock. There was a vanity set with a large counter and mirror, on top of the counter was what looked to be a jewellery box and a powder set.

"Did you  used to literally _powder your nose_?" Harry asked incredulously.

"Still do. Is that a problem?" Draco questioned back, he really seemed to not find this unusual.

"Er, nope, I'm just learning new things about you everyday," he chuckled, he couldn't wait to get back to Cambridge to tell Lexi and the guys that Draco powdered his nose, they would certainly have a field day.

There was a writing desk near the large window on the left with quill, ink, blank parchment, envelopes, letter sealer and a letter opener all in accordance. To the side of the desk was a wardrobe, a couple of moving pictures were placed on top of it. Harry made his way over to examine them. The first of the three were of Draco, who seemed to look about eleven, waving in front of Platform Nine and Three Quarters. "Ah, my first day to Hogwarts," the blonde had come up behind Harry and wrapped his arms around his mid-drift and pulled him in tightly, his voice trailed a ghostly air up Harry's neck and left goosebumps in their wake.

"This one here," Draco pointed his finger to the one beside that at a large group of people looking sinister, some smiling genuinely but rarely, "Is of my entire extended family, it was taken years before I was even around. Sirius is there," he pointed to the tall, scrawny black-haired youth, barely fifteen, who was waving from the front row beside Regalus. Harry sighed heavily, he didn't want to look at that. Of course he had seen pictures of Sirius before and he looked at them at least once a year in his photo album kept locked away in the depths of his apartment closet, but he still got choked up every time. He turned inquiringly at the picture next to it, quick to change the subject.

"Is that you and Pansy Parkinson?" Harry asked with a sneer, something he had picked up from Draco over the last year. 

"Mhm, we were betrothed until my Father died, which is just another thing I have to thank you for. Thank you, Harry, for making sure I did not marry that wench," Draco said seriously, with a tone of sourness dripping from his words. In the picture Draco, aged sixteen, did look rather unhappy about the arrangement as Pansy flung her arms wildly around his neck and was leaning up to kiss him and looking back at the photographer with a large smile on her pug face.

Harry turned away from the pictures and at the door to his left, "What's in there?"

"That is the closet," Draco explained and stepped away from his lover now to opened up the door, as he did a light turned on automatically to reveal a rather large closet. It was bigger than any bedroom Harry ever had, and it was filled with clothes, hats, coats, shoes, everything a person could possibly wear. No wonder Draco had gotten into fashion.

"How in the hell do you have that much shit?!" Harry exclaimed, his eyes rather wide.

"It is not shit, it is clothing," Draco corrected, ignoring answering the question altogether, "And over here, is the bathroom if you need it," he pointed to the other door across the room to the left of the vanity.

"I think I do actually, what time is it?" Harry quipped, his nerves were beginning to come back up again and choke him.

"Ten past six. If we want to make it to dinner on time, we had best leave soon. Hurry up," Draco said and walked over to the window to look across the grounds that stretched beneath it.

"Pushy pushy," Harry teased with a smirk, knowing that the blonde was smirking as well even though his back was turned to him. Harry went into the bathroom and once again was in for a shock. It looked almost identical to the Prefect's bathroom at Hogwarts. It had a massive bath with large, copper taps, it looked more like a pool to him. There was a bathroom stall in the corner sealed off by two marble slabs with an opening on the right to step inside of. There was a sink with four taps to wash your hands, above the sink was a large mirror and a shelf beneath that hold toiletries. There was another closed off area on the other side of the tub where a window stood, Harry guessed that to be the shower. After going to the bathroom, and attempting to figuring out which tap to use and giving up eventually and randomly picking one, Harry joined his lover at the window, arms around him.

"You are such a spoiled brat, you know that?" Harry whispered into his ear, making Draco stiffen with excitement.

"Oh, I know. And you love it," he added playfully, "Now come, before we are late," he said and led the way out of the room.

"So, was it you that picked out all Slytherin colours?" Harry asked as they held hands down the corridors of the Malfoy Manor towards the staircase. Harry couldn't imagine being a five year-old child walking all this distance just for a meal.

"No, my Father had that entire detail of my life engrained since I was born," Draco drawled.

"Or maybe you're just a suck up," Harry grinned and received a rather cold look, he merely mocked it with a pout.

When they finally rounded on the dining area, the first thing Harry noticed as the long oak table set for three seats together all at the right hand side. The food was already on them, and there were three glasses of red wine before them. It smelt fantastic, Harry's mouth watered as he recalled only having breakfast that day so far. Narcissa didn't seem to be there yet, Draco checked his watch, "Five minutes late," he commented dryly and sat down on the far side of the table, Harry sat across from him as the head spot was saved for his Mom.

They waited another couple of silent minutes, which Harry spent wringing his hands, before Narcissa strode in. She had thick blonde hair cut short, her eyes were narrow and blue like the ocean, but they held no kindness in them. Narcissa waited, seemingly impatient, before the two of them as Draco rose to his feet and sent Harry a glare that told him to stand up as well.

"Mother, I never understand how you can be late and I cannot," Draco said as a greeting, but then the look on his and Narcissa's faces softened and they embraced for a moment, "How are you doing?" he asked sincerely.

"Rather bored, you know how I loathe winter. And you, my darling?" she quipped sweetly, a tone Harry hadn't expected to come from her.

"More wonderful than ever," he smiled truthfully, making Harry's cheeks turn a light pink which he attempted to suppress, "Mother, me and my..." he paused, searching for the right words.

"Boyfriend?" she suggested.

"You see, that is what I would have called him if it were not for the circumstances. As you know, I have been seeing somebody exclusively for a year now and well...we have decided to bind ourselves," Draco's words resulted in a heavy silence, Harry still hadn't been properly introduced to her and things were already getting awkwardly out of hand. Narcissa still had no idea who was in the room, his scar was covered, his glasses gone, he probably didn't resemble much of what he was when she last saw him. 

Narcissa's mouth was a tight, thin line and then she finally allowed her gaze to flicker over Harry who stood with a lop-sided, forced smile. "I believe a congratulations is in order," she said with a tightness, though since Draco beamed this seemed a good thing for her to say, "First, introduce yourself young man," Narcissa ordered, she crossed her arms.

"Er, right. We've met before, actually," Harry allowed himself to laugh but Draco glared at him warningly.

"Have you? Are you an old schoolmate of Draco's?"

"Er, yeah. We didn't get along in school,"

"That is certainly the understatement of the year," Draco muttered as he sat down, the other two remained standing.

"I believe a re-introduction is in order," Harry said firmly, finally gathering his wits together and he smiled sweetly and he his hand to his future Mother-in-law, "It is very lovely to meet you Narcissa, my name is Harry," and with that he waited, his hand hanging in the air as Narcissa masked the emotions and thoughts running through her.

"Harry...?" she began.

"Potter, Harry Potter. You know? Sodding Boy-Who-Lived, all that jazz? It really is a wonderful package," Draco wanted to hurry along this introduction, it was taking far too long and he was hungry from the long day.

"You. _You_ are Harry Potter? As in the one everybody believed to be dead?" Narcissa asked, still not revealing how she was feeling about the situation. Harry nodded uneasily with a bit lip, "How did all of this happen?" she asked, ignoring his still out-stretched hand and sitting down.

"Draco found me over a year ago, we got to talking and things just developed from there. I've been so much happier ever since he's come into my life," Harry explained, trying to butter up the situation in anyway as Draco rolled his eyes and took a large gulp of wine.

"No, I mean to ask where did you go?" Narcissa implored, looking over this changed Harry, perhaps searching for hints of the boy she remembered him to be. Draco was grateful that only his eyebrow and ear piercings were visible and not his tattoos.

"I-I...my reasoning is complicated and private, my apologies. But I travelled the world for a few years and settled in Cambridge. Our agreement was that before we got married, I would fully reveal myself to the Wizarding World once more. No press conferences or anything of that matter, I had enough of that in Hogwarts," Harry groaned at the mere thought of all the publicity he got - and still got after his disappearance, as was evident in Draco's room which still existed, even despite Harry's discomfort, though for the most part it was cleaned up, organized, a lot of things torn down and put into boxes. 

"I see," Narcissa responded, she sipped her wine and seemed to be contemplating for a couple of minute. "I believe you both wish for my confidentiality for a little while?" they both nodded, "I guess I owe you an apology as well as a long awaited Thank You," a forced smile came onto her face as she turned fully to Harry now.

"Er, what for?" he asked and got a kick from under the table, he glared at Draco wondering what for but silver eyes were diverted elsewhere.

"I am apologizing for the attitude in our meetings of earlier times and I am also thanking you for saving my son's life. Without you blindly standing up for him whatever the reasons were...you saved his life. I could not be more grateful," and even though her emotions were masked, Harry could tell she meant it. He smiled in return.

"I wouldn't have had either any other way," and with that they began dinner. There was awkward, forced small talk and Narcissa attempting to tell stories of Draco being a child, she even asked about Harry's childhood but he shied away from it. Draco said he had hardly known anything about it, either. This made Harry think of the Dursley's, they deserved to know. Over the past few years, he had become close with them because he announced his 'disgust' for the Wizarding World, which he had only done at the end of his running, before he settled down in Cambridge, when he was desperate for a place to safely sleep and didn't want to be alone any longer. They had finally begun to act like the relatives they were, although always apprehensive. The brunette sighed, accidentally interrupting Draco who was explaining how Harry proposed as his Mother admired his ring.

"What is it, love?" Draco asked, truly concerned.

"Well, now they've we've come here...I guess we have to go to the Dursley's, too. It's only fair," he sighed once more, his brows became furrowed.

"What is wrong with that? Are these your relatives?" questioned Narcissa, thoroughly interested.

"Yeah, but there's something about them..."

"What?" Draco demanded, Harry still had refused to talk about them during the whole course of their relationship thus far.

"They _hate_ magic. Anything magic. They hated me because I was a Wizard, they hated my parents, they despise Hogwarts and everything to do with our world," he sighed once more and also held back his laughter as well at the Malfoy's collective appalled looks.

"Hate magic? Harry, how in the hell did you live with that?"

"Language, Draco," Narcissa warned.

"Can we not talk about this now? I would rather not ruin this lovely meal," Harry smiled sweetly at Narcissa who nodded in agreement.

It was a rather long night and when the two finally retired in Draco's room, Harry collapsed with exhaustion and a slight strain thinking about the events in the coming week. He had successfully wooed Draco's Mother, who seemed pleased with her son's selection of a spouse. Now could they do the same with the Dursley's?


	10. Squib!

"One more time, c'mon!" Draco urged.

"You sound like a bloody cheerleader!" Harry growled out of exhaustion, his brow was covered in sweat, his chest rising and falling heavily.

Draco rolled his eyes and crossed his arms from his stance, leaning lazily against the door frame of one of the empty rooms in his quarters, "You are not getting any lunch until you do this, at least...One! Time!" he screamed.

This wasn't unusual, this was how they always worked. Pissing each other off to no ends, Harry exhausted and Draco watching, patiently pushing him further.

Grumbling, the brunette closed his eyes and caught his breath after a few moments. His hands relaxed at his sides as his head lowered slightly, letting his strain go. Then Draco felt it, the same soothing calm that washed over him even though his nerves were racked, he hadn't told Harry that there were anti-apparition charms thoroughly placed in every room of the Manor. Draco understood that there were risks involved in this magic, a spell they had created together that is a substitute for Draio's wishing to apparate and use less magical energy, but he had faith in his fiancé.

" _Taisteal_ ," Harry whispered, rather relaxed in comparison to his state only moments earlier. And then, with a small vibration that hit Draco's own magical core and that of the entire household, Harry was gone in a puff of air and no other noise whatsoever. It was a lot quieter than regular apparition.

They had agreed that the room to apparate in was to be the kitchen, as then he would get his lunch. Draco ran as fast as he could down the stairs, wishing he could apparate and wanting to make sure his boyfriend was still in one piece. Ten minutes later he arrived, out of breath staring at Harry who was munching on biscuits the House Elves had provided for him, "Took you long enough, why didn't you just apparate?" Harry mumbled between bites.

"Maybe because there are apparition wards on every room of this house. You did not even feel them, did you?" Draco was amazed, even more so than usual. Harry was impressing him more and more everyday, "I have no idea how your muggle relatives hate magic," he whispered as an after thought. 

"Nor do I, but they do," Harry shrugged, letting the whole thing slide off his back. He didn't want to be thinking about the Dursley's now. The couple had been staying at the Malfoy Manor for two evenings now and were due to arrive at the Dursley's by dinner time, they would be staying overnight there as well, Harry had sent them mail by muggle post the first morning he was in Narcissa's presence.

"Where's your Mother?"

"Do you not remember? She had errands, sends her regards and apologizes for not being able to be here to say goodbye. Oh well, I have a feeling we will be having quite a few dinners here over the next little while. I can tell she is still rather skeptical of you, though intrigued by us," Draco smirked.

They finished up their meals and got the House Elves, although against Harry's will, to put their bags in the trunk of the car and they were off on the road again, the sweet classical music in the background as Malfoy Manor faded. Draco was not phased, but Harry felt as though he was stepping out of one dimension and into another one.

"I am really proud of you, Harry," Draco smiled over at him and took one hand from the steering wheel to place it absently on his thigh, Harry squeezed it with his own, "I always knew you were something more than an ordinary wizard, but you were rather quick to pick up any spell, charm or Potion made for the Draio. And if I do say so myself, your personal spells work superbly. To think, even the Potions are perfect,"

"Shush, if it weren't for your demanding arse I wouldn't have gotten anything done," Harry smirked, knowing how true it really was.

"Well, if you were not so...where the bloody hell am I going, Potter?" Draco quipped, he actually had no absolute idea where he was headed. 

"The Dursley's live in Little Whinging, it's in Surrey. About an hour and a half from London," Harry explained, and Draco nodded having some clients in Surrey outside of Little Whinging.

"Let's see, my turn for questions," Draco racked his brain as Harry groaned, he really didn't want to talk about this but there was no way to avoid it any more. He had already done a fantastic job avoiding it for the past year, "Just tell me everything," the blonde sighed, he didn't really know where to begin.

"Well, erm, there's my Aunt Petunia which is my Mom's sister. She hated my Mom because when she was asked to attend Hogwarts. My grandparents were very proud to have a witch in the family, Petunia was jealous, so I'm pretty sure that's why she married the biggest, bleeding brute, git muggle I've ever known, my Uncle Vernon. He's a right bastard, made my childhood living hell," Harry spat, he may have forgiven them for their mistreatings, silently, but he still didn't like recalling them. 

"Then there's Dudley, he used to be wretched although now he's tolerable. He was massive growing up, but he's slimmed out a bit and I'm pretty sure he worked nicely on his personality..." Harry mumbled in slight thought himself, he had only seen them a couple times since he got together with Draco, which was unusual for him, "When I was growing up, as I mentioned they hated magic...it was like a swear. I lived in the cupboard under the stairs until I was eleven and went to Hogwarts, I'm pretty sure they were trying to snuff any magic out of me. I was also their personal housemaid, cook, and slave pretty much up until then. But then when I came back after First Year they gave me my own room, only to bar it up. They tried every way possible to make my summers living hell, making me do endless hours of chores, refusing to feed me for days on end, just because I was actually allowed to go to Hogwarts. Dumbledore had threatened them, if I wasn't kept safe he'd have had it with them and the Dursley's were terrified of Dumbledore - like most are," Harry reasoned.

"I cannot believe those rotten, muggle bastards!" Draco roared, his face was tight with rage as his hands resumed a tight grip on the wheel.

"Draco, please it's not like that! I denounced myself from the Wizarding World to them, they said they felt terrible about what they did...we forgave and forgot," Harry assured him with a small, worried smile. The blonde didn't seem satisfied.

"And how exactly did you _denounce_ yourself?" he asked through clenched teeth.

"Erm...I...Draco it's not really..."

"It is!" Draco cut him off with a heated scream.

"I...I told them I hated magic and everything about it. That I would never have a thing to do with it again, that they were right all along," Harry sighed, knowing the blonde wouldn't like this at all. But when he heard no response, he felt it best to continue past that, "I just wanted some family for once in my life. I saw the Weasley's and my friends as family but..but...when I left I felt so alone so...I know it was stupid and all, and they're just going to disown me once again when they find out I'm going back to it all," Harry shrugged, he sounded truly solemn and for that matter Draco lessened his temper. He relaxed, breathed and turned up Chopin slightly.

"So, no talking about the childhood memories then?"

"Definitely not," Harry smiled gratefully, even though that smile never did reach his eyes. How could it? He was terrified. Although he wasn't fond of the Durlsey's, they were still the only ounce of family he had left.

"Rest love, I will wake you when we are near," Draco promised and the brunette happily obliged, leaning his seat back and listening to the soothing music as he gently passed into the world of blackness and dreams.

When Harry awoke next, he was being shook by Draco's hand. He yawned stretched, and peered out the window and his emerald eyes dulled. They were already there so soon? "Are you ready?" Draco asked, bringing the car to a stop in the Dursley's driveway behind their gleaming SUV.

"Yeah, if you are. Just remember to _not_  mention anything until I do," Harry said with warning, and a bit of a plea in his voice. Draco nodded and unhooked his seatbelt only to lean over the cup holder in between the two and kissed Harry sweetly on the cheek.

Harry beamed and turned his head slightly so that their lips met, they shared a moment before reluctantly parting, "I'm afraid there will be none of that in the house. I mean, they know I'm gay and all but...still, they don't wanna see it," Harry said.

They came out of the car and Draco gave Number Four Private Drive the once over, it was alright for a Muggle home. At least it wasn't a dump, like Harry's apartment. "It is about the size of my quarters,"

"It's about the size of your bathtub," Harry muttered, grabbing a hold of Draco by the arms and pushing him towards the door. He might as well just get this over with as soon as possible.

They stood, arm-in-arm, both nervous now although Draco properly held it back. The blonde had dressed Harry again, as he did whenever they were together. Their clothes combined probably cost more than the Dursley's car. Harry rung the doorbell and before he could take another breath, Dudley answered with a grin.

"Harry, what's happening?" he scrambled to pick Harry up and then slam him back down on the ground. Dudley was much thinner than he used to be, although with a little tub still in the front he was looking rather good, especially considering his genetics. His blonde mop of hair was still as always hanging on his long face, his beady blue eyes looked convincingly glad to see his cousin.

"Not much, Dud. This is Draco, by the way. The friend I said I'd be bringing. Draco this is Dudley," Harry introduced them, he turned to Draco who was raising his eyebrow with his arms crossed, he held out his hand and shook Dudley's willing one.

"Nice to meet you. Any mate of Harry's is a mate of mine," Dudley grinned and led them into the house, "Mom and Dad are actually out at the neighbours, should be back any time now. Guys up for tea?"

"Sounds perfect, but I'll get it," Harry insisted and made his way into the kitchen after kicking off his shoes and dropping his bag in the doorway. It always unnerved him to be in this house, but he was getting used to it over the years that he visited.

"Just throw your shoes on the mat...holy shit, you're a dresser aren't yah?" Dudley laughed with the shake of his double chin and small belly, "I've never seen Potter dress better in his life!"

"Clothes are my life," Draco shrugged, putting his hands in his tight black slacks as his silver eyes scanned his surroundings. It was a nice family home complete with everything muggle you could want. The big screen television was in the living room across from the couch, there were portraits although only a few contained recent pictures of Harry and the rest there was no sign of him. This boiled Draco's anger but he suppressed it as he had been taught in his early years. To his right, he caught the door to the cupboard under the stairs and hardly contained himself before Dudley yanked him towards the stairs.

"While Harry's making tea, I'll show yah to your room," he suggested, grabbing Harry's bag as Draco took his and led the way. Upon walking into Harry's room, it was mostly empty save the bed, wardrobe, and desk. Dudley threw Harry's beg on the bed, Draco gently set his on the ground near the desk. He looked around, contemplating again.

"What do you do, Dudley?" Draco asked, deciding he might as well make a good impression while he still could. Harry had tried for him as well.

"I'm a Junior Finance manager at my Dad's insurance company, he's the Vice President now. Worked his way up that corporal ladder, if you know what I mean," Dudley nudged him lightly and chortled and Draco merely raised his eyebrows. No, he didn't know what he meant. Dudley wandered around the room until he came to the small window and gasped.

"Is that your car?!" he screeched, and with that he bounded down the stairs. Draco rolled his eyes, too used to this reaction. They passed Harry, looking mildly confused with a tea tray in his hands. Slipping on his shoes, Draco went outside where Dudley -shoeless, socks soaking from the snow residue - was admiring the sleek machine.

"Holy hell, what does a man have to do to get a car like that?! Is it four cylinder?" Dudley was inspecting every aspect and angle of the vehicle as Harry stood slightly amused in the doorway, tea tray still in hand with a couple of biscuits thrown on top.

"Six," Drawo drawled, rather pleased by the shocked look on Dudley's face. He always got joy out of people being envious for him.

"The tea is getting cold," Harry called with a smirk on his face as he turned away from the other two and went into the living room where they soon joined a moment later. Draco sat down simultaneously beside his fiancé but kept his distance slightly, in case the urge to touch him came up. Dudley sat across from them in a chair.

Harry poured them all tea whereas Dudley sat nibbling on a scone already, "So, once again. How in the hell did you afford that car?"

Dudley's question was not answered as the front door opened and closed, Vernon and Petunia stepped into view. They looked as they had, unchanging for the whole memory span of Harry's life. Draco stood up immediately, followed by Harry who was quickly embraced by his relatives, though with slight reproach, before released and they turned on Draco, "Pleased to meet you. You must be Vernon, and you must be beautiful Petunia," the blonde had a way with his tone that resulted in Petunia swooning. They shook hands before all three sat once more.

Petunia and Vernon were on chairs as well as Dudley, staring intently at Harry, "M'boy, how've you been? Business running well I suspect?" Vernon boomed, reaching for a handful of treats Harry had gathered as the brunette sipped on his tea.

"Rather, as usual. Draco here owns a clothing store," Harry said, willing to do anything to get the pressure off of him onto his fiancé.

"Draco? What an odd name..." Petunia mused.

"Draco Lucius Malfoy," Draco said with a proud smile, the eyes of Petunia widened slightly and then seemed to mask something. Harry suddenly became rather nervous and he fidgeted with his cup, "I was rather proud of that name when I was growing up," he smirked.

"Ah, and I guess that amounts for the nice car in the driveway? Big family fortune, huh?" Vernon piped, eager at any talk that had to do with money and power.

"Most definitely larger than any amount of money you have ever seen, no offence," Draco added quickly with a sweet smile, although Petunia didn't swoon this time as she seemed to have something on her mind, "Yet, not a knut... _penny_ was used for that car. That would all be my business," he laughed lowly as he glanced over at Harry.

"What was it you said you did, boy?" Vernon seemed as though he was attempting to recall it, his sausage fingers were breaking apart a scone, the crumbs falling on his vest.

"I run a chain of clothing stores. They are mostly known in Paris," he lied, which came rather easily. If they were known in London area, then they would have heard of them but he knew Harry wanted to keep their secret safe a little longer.

The small talk continued, mostly nonsense between Draco, Vernon and Dudley. Harry was just glad that the conversation never died and everything was running smoothly, except for Petunia's awfully quieted mood and constant blank expression that she wore. Once the late dinner was served a couple of hours later, everybody enjoyed the oven roasted chicken. "This is absolutely delectable," Draco commented with a soft smile, Harry knew he was bullshitting it, his Aunt always had the worst cooking, especially in comparison to House Elves.

"Thank you, Draco," she smiled half-heartedly, and it faded rather fast. Harry was becoming continuously nervous. Things were going too smoothly, they had to muck up sooner or later.

"Not that we mind having company, but why are you here with Harry exactly?" she quipped slowly, calculating the blank slate that were Draco's silver orbs. Harry tensed immediately, this was it. It was now or never.

"Is he your new boyfriend?" asked Dudley, not repulsed or that interested either as he stuffed his mouth with another spoonful of peas.

"Er, yes," Harry admitted and all eyes turned to the two of them before back to their plates. He had brought one boyfriend home before, they hadn't a problem with it. As long as it didn't have something to do with magic.

"Do not lie, Harry, it is very unbecoming of you," Draco tisked and put down his fork gently, now all attention was on him. "I am not his boyfriend but," he grabbed Harry's hand from under the table and brought it on top entwined with his as his silver engagement ring shone in the light, "His fiancé," he smiled.

Everything became very silent. "I certainly wasn't expecting that! You can't just jump into things like this, Harry, how long have you known him?" Vernon asked, he did look mildly concerned.

"Er, we've been together a little over a year," Harry avoided the question, this did not escape Petunia in the slightest as her lips tightened.

"Well congrats, I'll sure come to the wedding!" Dudley smacked Harry hard on the back from his corner of the table. Harry coughed.

"I don't think you'd wanna be doing that," he mumbled sadly, and with a deep breath and a sigh as he met the two male relatives of his questioning gazes.

"Why not? You don't want us there?!" Vernon boomed, he didn't like being denied one little bit. He balled up his fists on top of the table beside his dinner plate, in moments they were turning a deep purple.

"I believe he most definitely does want you to attend, whenever the wedding shall be," Draco said firmly, his voice holding quite austere authority, "I just do not believe you will want to attend a Bonding Ceremony," he finished. This was the magical equivalent of a muggle marriage.

Petunia gasped and shook her head, Vernon's face turned a very dark shade of purple and it seemed as though his entire body began to shake. "A WHAT?!" He screamed, Harry flinched but Draco merely sat still and looked at his future Uncle-in-law as he stood up in a rage. Petunia sat, collecting herself but still silent as ever which terrified Harry.

"What does that mean, Harry? Dad, what does that mean?!" Dudley demanded, with equal anger that matched Vernon's as he hated to be left out of things - it reminded him too much of his childhood when his parents kept so many things about Harry from him.

"A Bonding Ceremony is when a Wizard and/or Witch decides to sanctify themselves and become one union with another," Draco explained with an air, Dudley's face fell into understanding but he didn't explode as Harry had expected. He merely seemed confused as he turned to his fuming Father, who was stuttering insults and his face turning purpler by the second as Harry nearly shook in fear.

"How do you know what this is?" Dudley asked.

"Because when that evil bitch married that bastard Potter boy, that's what they called it!" Vernon snapped, he pointed a finger at Harry angrily.

"Don't talk about my parents like that!" Harry screamed back defiantly, Draco smirked as he felt the magical energy in the room build up suddenly and sat back with a relaxed, bemused expression on his face. This horrified Dudley and Petunia as the brunette faced Vernon who didn't falter in his gaze. "Say it again, say it again! I dare you!" he did not scream it this time, merely whispered full of venom.

"What? That your Mother was an evil bitch and..." Vernon couldn't finish his sentence, Harry made a strangled scream as the magic leapt from him and lashed out at the large man. Tendrils of blackness smashed into him like a harsh wave, Vernon's cries were muffled. After a moment, Harry calmed down with the help of Draco placing his hand on his forearm, Vernon was cowering on the floor now with a whimper in his throat.

"What did you just do to me?!" Vernon demanded, Dudley nor Petunia looked in the right position to speak at all yet. "What did you do to me!?"

"Nothing! I just let my magic out and it did that to you!" Harry yelled, still angry, "You're so glad I didn't actually concentrate on a real curse!" 

"Love, calm down. You are going to end up blowing up this house, with us still inside of it," Draco cooed from behind him as Vernon scrambled to his feet as faraway from Harry as possible.

"I don't want this filth in my house when I come back!" Vernon growled, and with that was out the door. Silence thickened in the air, everybody exchanged glances before Dudley spoke up.

"Did you ever really live the Wizarding World?" he asked.

"Yes, he did. For six fucking long years, and he made me worry myself near to death! Everybody thought he was dead, even his best friends and..." Draco trailed off and collected himself, he sat back down at the table as Harry regained himself and turned to his petrified Aunt.

"I'm so sorry, Petunia, Dudley. I - I never really meant what I said about magic...I love magic. I, wasn't apart of the World of it any more, and I stopped using it. I had truly become a muggle, but when Draco found me...well, he sorta forced it outta me," Harry smirked at the memory of the first few days of their meetings, "I didn't mean to make Vernon explode like that, I just thought you had the right to know what was happening,"

"Thank you, we did," Petunia merely responded before shifting in her seat. All eyes were on her as she sighed, "Dudley, make us some tea would you? Harry, sit," she ordered lightly, Harry obeyed and allowed Draco to drape his arm around his shoulders.

"I knew I recalled your name from somewhere, Draco. Lily came home one summer rattling on about how cruel an older year at school had been, a boy named 'Malfoy'. I had forgotten his first name but when you said it...it sounded so familiar, I just knew there had to be a connection. I could feel it in the air, if that sounds strange enough. I know I am a Squib, which..."

"You're a _Squib_?! What in the _fuck_?! If you don't pardon my language, but when in the hell did this happen...and if you were a Squib all this time, why did you treat me like that...why did you..." Harry had so many questions racing through his mind but was silenced by Petunia slowly raising her hand.

"Dumbledore sent me a letter to Hogwarts as well, saying I could learn the art although it would be gravely difficult. I was too afraid I would get laughed at," she shrugged, Dudley was making slow with the tea now that he had heard this news. His hands were shaking on the cups.

"You would have," Draco confirmed, Harry shot him a glare, "What? She would have been in the same year as Snape, not to mention four years younger than Lucius!"

"I know who Severus is, he was part of that Order that threatened us to take good care of Harry," Petunia said, recalling all those years ago, "But who's Lucius?"

"That is my Father. He is a dirty bastard, thank Merlin he's dead and gone," Draco grumbled, Dudley gasped at this.

"How can you say that about your very Father?" he turned heatedly towards the blonde who shrugged in his seat.

"You've never met his Father," Harry responded venomously, although he never would have wished Lucius dead he thought it generally for the better.

"So that must have been who Lily was talking about," Petunia gathered as Draco nodded solemnly, "Well, be that as it may I knew this was coming. But things are different, we've gotten to know you Harry and I think I stand for both Dudley and I that we accept you as you are, wizard or not,"

"Well that is delightful, because he most certainly is not a Wizard," Draco grinned.

"What?" the two questions came at once.

"Don't," Harry warned, he didn't want anybody to know about this, but it was already too late.

"Harry is a Draiochta, it was a magical being by birth. Whether or not he was born of two magical parents, Harry would have had magic pure in his core. It is the strongest type of magic, one that reacts to emotions, thoughts, feelings, and the general wants of the Draio. There have only been five previous recorded Draiochta's, and Harry is now the Sxith in over a thousand years," Draco explained.

"I don't believe you," Dudley said, his mouth wide as he dropped the tea tray heavily onto the table. Nobody reached for anything, it was too much of a shock right now as Harry sat nervously in his chair.

"Believe what you wish, but I know for a fact Harry is a Draio. Do you not remember him doing things on pure whim when he was a child? Most Wizards cannot do that, only very powerful ones. He did it easily, without exhaustion, exertion, or even knowing he had done it," Draco said, and this was enough to dawn realization on the remaining Dursley's.

"Well, Draio, Wizard, whatever," Petunia muttered and then smiled at Harry, "We accept you," she said, and to the brunette it was a promise. He beamed back and leapt from his chair to run around and embrace her.

"Why?" he asked, pulling back and taking the chair beside her now intently.

"Because we know you, and we love you as family now. Vernon might take sometime, but I will make him come around," she said and patted him gently on the knee. Harry could have never felt better about the entire interaction, and he was completely and utterly surprised at his Aunt's hospitality but knew it had something to do with the Squib business.

"So this, uh, War, is it over?" she asked slowly. Draco gave Harry an appalled look as the brunette withdrew once more.

"Yes, it is. Only because Harry ended it," Draco said proudly, he wouldn't let Harry back down from his one. They had to face his demons eventually.

"What do you mean?" Dudley asked, "What was it even about?"

"Well, you see in the Wizarding World there are two sides to everything. There was the Death Eaters and the Order, I wish there was a grey like you muggle lot I would have joined it,"

"If there was, we would've been friends a lot sooner," Harry muttered.

"Definitely not. I could not have disobeyed my Father still, and he would have chosen his Lord no matter," Draco shrugged.

"Wait a minute! You were with those...Death Eaters? And Harry with the Order?" Dudley asked, trying to piece things together but ultimately failing.

"I guess it is story time, agreed Harry?" Draco turned to Harry who sighed and nodded slowly. The blonde began, he started as early as he could, when Harry was born. He explained the events of that Halloween night when the Potters died, he explained the Prophecy, the Death Eaters, the inability to choose some other destiny for himself.

Three and half hours and four pots of tea later, Draco finished with how he had accidentally found Harry. Petunia had stayed quiet for the duration of the explanation, but Dudley continuously asked questions and budded in - getting rather into the story itself and excited at points. Then, once it was all over, he turned sombrely to Harry. "That's what that tattoos about, isn't it? The cross?"

"Mhm," Harry nodded, he rolled up his left sleeve to reveal it and pointed at the names to name each one of them out, "All the people I loved dearly that I lost to that evil bastard Voldemort," he growled, Draco tapped him gently on the back.

"Er, can I...see..." Dudley began but Draco was already rolling up his own sleeve to reveal the re-tattooed Dark Mark.

"Harry redid it, I was sick of looking at that bleeding thing everyday of my life,"

"Harry," Petunia said softly and then when they locked us, tears welled up in her own. This was the very first time Harry had ever seen her cry, and Dudley for that matter. It surprised both of them speechless, Draco watched with curiosity as Petunia flung her arms around Harry's lap and tightly embraced him, sobbing gently as he hugged her back. "I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry!" she repeated over and over again, and with that, Harry hugged her back, tightly. 

When Harry and Draco left the Dursley's the next morning, grateful his Uncle had yet to return, the brunette was feeling much better despite Vernon's out burst and total disappearance. Petunia promised that everything would be alright. She also sent them home with baked goods, even though Draco implored that it was unnecessary. Dudley promised at least he would come to the wedding, Petunia smiled and said she hoped she could. As they waved goodbye and Dudley's eyes widened at the sound of Draco's engine starting up, they drove off.

"Wow, that went better than expected, I have to tell you," Harry admitted still a little befuddled from last nights events. He could have never thought Petunia to be a Squib, to accept him so openly and Dudley to follow so closely. But he was grateful, really, truly grateful. He wouldn't have to lose his only relatives after all, and this put a giant smile across his face.

Things were even for the time being as Draco blasted Wagner from his stereo, humming along to the melody that was playing furiously on the organ-piano. Harry felt at last satisfied with where he was, he had little to no burdens left on his shoulders.

That was, until he received an unexpected visitor the next morning...


	11. Reuniting

Harry woke up and stretched, he had heard the mail flap to his apartment swing open and close. For once he was awake before Draco so he set off to get the mail, he leafed through bills and advertisements until he rested upon the semi-familiar handwriting of Petunia. He rose an eyebrow and hurriedly ripped it open.

_Dear Harry,_

_Allow me to first start off by apologizing for Vernon's behaviour the other night. I have decided to come out to him as a Squib, but am still scared to do it. Otherwise, I just wanted to let you know that Dudley and I are here for you and we feel as though you are truly family, being who you are will never change that. Stay strong, and bring Draco back to visit some time._

_Love From,_

_Petunia Dursley._

The brunette smiled, he hoped that Petunia did go through with telling Vernon about the whole Squib nonsense, because then maybe he would ease up on Harry himself for being what he was. There was no way he'd right out leave his wife, or at least Harry thought there was no way he'd do that. Stretching his hands over his head, Harry heard his stomach growl and moved to the kitchen to began making food. Ever since Draco came along over a year ago now, he had been eating a lot more healthy foods and making meals at home instead of ordering in or going out.

A few minutes after he began making his omelette, he sensed Draco's core from behind and turned, skillet in hand with a large grin on his face. "Morning, love, hungry?"

"Uh..." Draco looked confused, flustered, and as if he just wanted to go back to bed, "You have a visitor, woke me up," he mumbled, pointing his thumb backwards into the bedroom area.

Harry raised his eyebrow, was Draco delirious? "Alright hun, want an omelette?"

"Sure, but there is..."

"Cheese? Ham? Peppers? Onions? What else?" Harry cut him off, turning back to the stove to start a second omelette.

"No ham, and any other vegetables in the fridge...Harry, are you listening to me?" Draco snapped, he crossed his arms coarsley and an annoyed look came across his tired face.

"Sorry Draco, what?" Harry asked, his attention clearly diverted to the task of making breakfast - he still wasn't that great at it as Draco usually cooked, but he was surely getting used to it.

"There is a bleeding visitor in your room, keeping me awake!" Draco growled with frustration, tapping his foot now in impatience. He just wanted to eat his omlette and go back to sleep, all the driving in the past week really wore him down and he had a large conference tomorrow for work.

"Now, now, just calm down hunny, let's just eat breakfast..."

"HARRY JAMES POTTER!" Draco screamed, his arm was fully extended as his pointing finger jabbed into his bedroom, "You are going to want to go into your bedroom right this instance, there is an IMPORTANT visitor!"

Harry raised his eyebrow, taken aback by the sudden outburst but it seemed like this morning wasn't a good start for the blonde. He wondered why, but as he finally turned down the heat and made his way to the bedroom, his emerald eyes widened suddenly. On his bed side table sat perched an owl, a beautiful snowy white coat and amber eyes that Harry knew too well. He didn't know how to react, but apparently the owl did.

Suddenly, Harry felt overwhelmed with the complete lack of expectancy of this as Hedwig landed on his now perched arm, out of old habit, she nipped his ear and then his chin repetitively. She didn't stop giving small nip-kisses for a few minutes, as Harry just stared in wonder at her until he finally stroked her feathers, she was still soft as ever but her eyes told of her age, even though she was barely old in terms for owls.

"Hedwig..." Harry whispered suddenly, his voice was a gentle whisper and Draco's bad mood melted away as he watched this touching reunion, "How did you find me?" he asked, she merely nipped his ear again, slightly painfully and he hissed, "What was that for?!" The look in response told him all he needed to know, of course she was upset for him leaving for all those years. But then again, why was she here now?

"Owls can always find their original masters, only when commissioned to do so or upon their free will," Draco explained dryly, he was still tired but he wasn't going to rush anything. He understood that none of this made sense to Harry at the moment, not like it did to him either...

"Hedwig, I missed you so much," he leaned in a kissed her on top of the head and she hooted in delight. Harry made his way back into the kitchen, he leaned down and picked up some vegetables he had cut for the omlettes and fed it to her He knew it wasn't good for her diet but she always did enjoy people food much more. She hooted happily, ate and then nipped at his chin again. Harry laughed lightly, his smile was broad although he had many questions in his head. It looked as though the letter attached to her talon would answer at least some of them.

"Draco, could you finish up the omelettes please? I've got to read this,"

"Urgh, fine. But you owe me a sleep-in," he grumbled and made his way to the stove to pick up where his fiancé had left off.

"You hate sleeping in," Harry said as he placed Hedwig gently on the chair, she perched herself and nuzzled closely to Harry - making up for all the years of lost contact.

"So? I wanted to today," Draco snapped back and then turned over his shoulder to view the scene before him, Harry staring at the blank envelope and slowly opening it, "Did you just let Hedwig free after...when you left?" he asked.

"No, I gave her to Remus. He didn't have an owl at the time and I thought she might as well be with somebody close to me," Harry said with a sigh, "But why would Remus send a letter out into the blue and suddenly it ends up in my bedroom - when they all think I'm dead? Why didn't they try sending a letter with her before hand?" he asked, and with that took out the parchment concealed within.

He recognized the scrawl immediately and began to read aloud, Hedwig nuzzling him and Draco listening.

_Dear Harry,_

_I feel ridiculous sending this letter. I don't think it will even ever reach you, I don't think it can. You're gone. You've been gone for six years now, we have no idea what happened to you but we also know there is no hope in waiting around for you to come home. Sometimes, the pain is so great that we can't do anything all day but think about you, where you must have gone to, what must have happened. Other times, it's alright. Some days, we don't even think about you and it's just a subconscious feeling nagging at us._

_I'm sending you this letter because Ron has been attempting to send it for years. It was always his last hope, but now he's lost all hope. Usually on your birthday we put the kids (we have three of them, a fourth one is coming! We have twins; a girl and a boy, they're both three now and the littlest boy is only two. We haven't told them of you yet, we have no idea where to begin, they wouldn't understand), and we talk about you, remembering you. It usually gets upsetting, but we've finally been able to let go. Last year, we didn't bring you up at all on the last day of the July - it felt weird, but we'll get used to it over the coming years._

_We see Remus a lot these days, even though he's the Dark Arts Professor at Hogwarts, he visits regularly and we understand it is because he wants to be in the company of somebody who was close to you. He's really hurting after losing all three of his best friends, Severus, and then you. He was really glad that you gave him Hedwig, but he refused to let us use her to try and find you. He didn't want Ron to get his hopes up and then be put down, it would've hurt him too much and Remus saw that. Now that he's seen we've been improving, he finally let me send a letter as long as it wasn't to Ron's knowledge._

_So here I am, writing a letter to the dead._

_This is pointless. But I'm doing it anyway because somewhere deep inside of me, there is still a small hope that Hedwig will find you, dead or alive._

_We miss you lots, and love you._

_Love,  
Hermione Weasley._

Harry breathed shakily in and out, Draco had set up two plates by the time he was finished reading. The brunette folded the parchment and patted Hedwig once again, she was still perched on the chair. "What do you think, girl? Think I was being a little off-handed in leaving?" he asked.

"You are going to look insane, coming back to our World and talking to Owls," Draco muttered, trying to lighten the mood as he smirked but was only met with a dull response.

"They'll already think I'm insane, when I tell them why I left...and I always talked to Hedwig," he sighed, digging his fork into the omelette and shoving a piece into his mouth.

"Harry, please do not think that. You had your reasons and even I agree with them now. You needed your time to cope with things, you just would not have been able to handle all of the Trials that came afterwards. I mean, sure there was the Death Eater trials that you attended, but the trials that we all attended afterwards in retrospect to Professor's at Hogwarts, Ministry of Magic personnel, the illegal activities the Order had been performing...you would not have been able to made it in any stable condition," Draco explained and then reached out and grabbed Harry's hand, forcing him to stop eating and listen. "If it were not for you leaving, we would not have this. I could not be any happier than to have us," he smiled reassuringly which did lighten Harry's mood.

"Yeah, well, I guess 'Mione's response will have to be delayed until I go so them,"

"Which is..."

"Not till July," Harry responded, slipping his hand out from his fiancés and returning to his breakfast slightly sombrely. Hedwig chirped, making a small smile appear on his face. At least he had an old friend beside him now.

"So long from now, why?" Draco whined, pushing around his food and slowly, delicately as always, he began to nibble on it.

"It's just the right amount of time for me, okay?"

"Fine, but you have to send Hedwig back,"

"I was thinking that you could send Remus a letter saying that she was in good hands, don't sign it or anything...just say that a good friend of Harry's has her and he'll get her back in due time. I-erm, I don't want to let her go again, Draco," Harry blushed at that, Hedwig seemed to agree as she nipped happily at his ear.

"I guess I will be using one of my owls to do this message as well?" Harry looked hopefully up from his meal, Draco rolled his eyes, "Fine, but you owe me,"

"Pfft...how about a blow?" Harry grinned, he was feeling a lot better about the situation. Five months wasn't a long time, he was actually already feeling his nerves shack up. What would his two best friends of all time say when he just showed up at their doorstep?

"How about one sleep in, three home made meals and a Get Out of Jail free card?" Draco bargained instead.

"Alright, alright, you've got it hun," Harry laughed, putting up his hands in defeat, "Your wishes are my commands," and with one more roll of Draco's eyes, they proceeded to eat their breakfast with something hanging over top of Harry's head, something he couldn't quite place yet - but he would soon come to know that that particular something was guilt.

As the weather melted away into a warm spring and then the most beautiful of summers beginning, Harry saw this as a sign. It was the right time to finally reveal himself, no matter how much he wanted to back down. It was the night before his birthday and he was closing up the shop early, Draco wanted to take him out for a short dinner before they got together with the guys and had drinks at the pub.

"Alright, see you in an hour, Lexi!" Harry waved and smiled at her as she waved back with a smirk on her face.

Harry was pulled up to his apartment where Draco had prepared his favourite meal; mashed potatoes, corn, and fillet Mignon. He wondered idly what desert was. Draco sat him down, placed a napkin on his lap before pouring two glasses of red wine and sitting opposite his fiancé. Flames flickered from the two candles burning on the table, the brunette was smiling widely.

"You really did yourself in this year, didn't you?" Harry smirked, he wanted to dive right into his food but a prudent look from Draco told him otherwise, "What, can't a birthday boy eat his food?"

"I wanted to give you your present first," the blonde whined and placed the cutest pout on his face possible, Harry melted and leaned his elbows on the table.

"Alright, fine, but make it quick because I'm sure as hell hungry,"

Draco rolled his eyes and reached into his pocket to pull out a small, black velvet box. Harry looked at it with an eyebrow raised, "You are so impatient, you know that?" Draco teased, he was feeling playful that night as he was excited for what would come later on.

"Do we really need to point out my bad qualities right now?" Harry groaned, his stomach grumbled in apprehension of the delicious foods aroma wafting up into his nostrils. In a moment, he was to turn ravenous.

"Harry, I wanted to give you this," Draco said, pushing the box towards him and propping it open at once. "Happy birthday," he smiled sweetly, watching Harry's face intently as the emerald eyes peered into the box.

"It's...wow, it's gorgeous!" Harry blushed and picked up the ring. It was made of titanium with an emerald embedded into it, the inscription on the inside read 'I love you'. There was a small design carved in the metal. As the brunette slipped it onto his ring finger he jumped up from his seat and hugged Draco who sat smirking in his chair.

"Glad you like it. I really just wanted you to wear something until the big day comes," Draco even blushed at this part, he couldn't believe that the two of them were getting married within the next year and it didn't really matter - he was more than happy. "I still have a whole new dress robes handmade for you, for the Ball," Draco insisted, this made Harry's arms drop from around the blonde as he slinked back into his seat.

"Let's not talk about that or what's happening tomorrow, alright? I just...I just want to enjoy tonight while it lasts," he sighed and now slightly sombrely dove into his meal.

When they finished, Harry was upset by finding out that he would not be receiving desert...at least not yet. This kept his mind thinking of endless possibilities as he said goodbye to Hedwig and the two left off for the pub.

Once they got there, it was obvious that everybody was already rather smashed. Draco shook his head at this and sneered at the group, they still had their love-hate relationship going on. Harry smirked and joined all of them only after turning to the bartender, Will, and requesting a rum and coke times two.

"Happy birthday you tosser!" Nate called first, sloshing a wet kiss on the man's cheek as Draco glared.

"Now, now we know he's taken!" Smith had his arm draped over Shenlea who already seemed a little far gone, she was gazing off into the distance beyond the door of the Winchester.

"Are you lot drunk already?" Draco drawled as Harry had pulled him down to sit in the large booth.

"Yeah, like we should be too!" Harry grinned as he received his rum and coke and Draco his, the brunette took a large gulp before sighing satisfied.

"Woot, we're gonna make sure you can't even get up in the mornin'!" Kaena chimed, everybody cheered and the heavy drinking ensued. Hours passed and numerous drinks came and went, they were beginning to get loud and obnoxious. At one point, Draco actually seemed to be enjoying himself with Harry's muggle friends.

"Let's get you home now," Kris said soothingly into Harry's ear, he never drank as much as everybody else and seemed to be in tiptop shape as he picked up the birthday boy, who turned twenty four just over thirty minutes ago. The lanky, black-haired, heavily pierced man nudged Draco, the blonde was nearly passed out on the table.

"Wha-? Ooh, alright..yeah...home..." Draco whispered, his head and the room were spinning and it wasn't in conjunction with one another.

It took forty minutes to return to Harry's flat, which was thirty longer than it should have. At one point, Draco had to stop and use the alley to remove the contents of his bladder before hobbling along beside Kris carrying a passed out Harry in his arms. Once they were inside, Kris flipped on the lights and heaved Harry over towards the bedroom and the blonde's eyes went suddenly wide.

"Er, you can put him on the couch!" he had jumped in front of Kris who raised his pierced eye at him.

"Mate, I think he'd like waking up..."

"No, he wouldn't!" Draco interrupted, but Kris merely shoved aside the half-drunk easily and went into the bedroom. As Kris laid Harry down lightly on the bed, he manoeuvred the sheets so they were laying on top of him.

"Alright, I'm grabbing the trash from the toilet to put beside his bed and you'll need to get a few glasses of water and some advil for the two of you tomorrow...WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS THAT?!" Kris had finally exmained the rest of the generally messy room, as usual, and was now quickly backing away from Hedwig who hardly awknowledged his presence as she flapped down to land beside Harry who grumbled in his sleep, she nipped at his ear and he just pushed her away. Hedwig nipped again and Harry growled, pushing her away further.

"Bugger off, Malfoy," the brunette groaned.

"That's not Malfoy, that's a bleeding _Owl_ , mate! Sin, there's a fuckin' owl...!" Kris attempted to grab at Harry who merely rolled onto his other side and went back into his tranced sleep.

"Shut the hell up," Draco groaned, rubbing his throbbing head. "It's a god damn pet owl, alright? Tamed. Her name is Hedwig. It was an anniversary gift," the blonde lied quickly as he walked towards the kitchen, Kris cast another weary look at the snowy white owl who perched herself back up on the window ledge, staring between the night sky and Harry's sleeping form.

"Who thought of getting him an owl? Those beasts are..."

"Intelligent, quick, endearing...just shove off, he wanted one," Draco grumbled and got two glasses full of tap water and then turned to look apologetically at an upheavaled Kris, "Thanks for bringing us home, we appreciate it. I think H-James really enjoyed his birthday," the blonde nearly made a slip, as he had done many times before but everybody, except for Kris, was too drunk to notice this.

"Get yourself some sleep, and watch out for that bloody owl, I don't trust it," with that, Kris had left the apartment lightly closing the door behind him. Draco sighed and went over the cupboard where he and Harry kept Potions they had been developing. There sat a row of 'Anti-Hangover' concoctions, he grabbed two of the vials filled with dark blue liquid and shut off the lights before going to wrap his arms around Harry.

The brunette stirred and buried his head into Draco's chest, the blonde smiled happily, "Happy birthday, love,"

"I love you too," Harry mumbled before breathing hot air onto Draco's chest, he leaned down and kissed his mop of hair and drifted into a woozy rest.

* * *

 

"You are going dressed like _that_?" Draco asked incredulously.

It was well into the afternoon now of Harry's actual birthday, July 31st. It was a Thursday, which is why the brunette had waited so long before leaving his apartment. Just in case Ron or Hermione would be at work.

"What's wrong with this?" Harry snapped, looking himself over in the mirror again as Draco watched from his spot on the bed, he was fingering through his fiancé's latest sketches for the studio. He wanted to do a mural in the basement, to liven it up a bit. He was so glad now to have another tattoo artist, giving him more space and allowing him to not be there everyday.

"You are already going to give them a heart attack by showing up on their doorstep, but showing up like a wannabe muggle, what are they called again... _emos_?" Draco scolded, even though he knew he enjoyed how his fiancé dressed, it was always exciting to him. There were just times when it wasn't appropriate, and now wearing a black t-shirt with mesh arms revealing his tattoos, black eye-liner, and baggy chained pants was not appropriate attire for this particular occasion.

"Hey, watch yourself buddy you're still in trouble for not giving me my promised dessert..." Harry warned as he finally came out of the bathroom, satisfied with himself as he grabbed his invisibility cloak and broom.

"You know, I would have but you passed out,"

"You should've woke me up!" Harry growled playfully, they both knew all too well that the implied dessert was as Harry approached the boy on the bed.

"We both know that would not have worked, Potter," Draco lightly responded before tilting his head upwards and capturing Harry's lips as the brunette bent down to meet his. They kissed softly for a moment, and then as Harry deepened it Draco pushed him away, "You can get dessert tonight. And why are you flying there, why not just Apparate?"

Harry shrugged and got on his broom, he looked over at the resting Hedwig, "I just wanna go for a fly, too, and don't forget to let her out tonight," he reminded Draco before sending a nervous smile his way.

"It will be fine, Harry. They are your best mates," Draco said reassuringly, with all seriousness in his voice now.

"I hope they'll still be after tonight..." and with that, Harry slipped on his Cloak and disappeared from sight. A small swoosh of wind told Draco that he had gone out of the open window, just wide enough for Harry to fly out of.

It was three hours before Harry touched down on solid ground again, his face was bright red from the wind flushing against him constantly. He took a couple of deep breaths and readied himself, going over his revised script in his head before taking off his Cloak and starting towards the House. It was almost nightfall, just before seven o'clock and he hoped he wouldn't be interrupting anything. But that was the least of his worries at the moment.

When he came closer to the House, he peered into the window beside the tall wooden door, it looked more like a cottage. He saw Ron bustling about in the kitchen from the distance, there were stairs in the way so he couldn't see inside completely. Harry smiled, but it soon faded as his nerves took over once again.

With a shaky hand he reached up and knocked on the door. A moment later, Ron's face was staring at Harry's nervously smiling one. There was silence, chocolate eyes widened and then fell with a frown before he closed the door in Harry's face.


	12. Going Back

Ron sighed heavily as he leaned on the coat rack, Hermione with a rather rounded stomach came down the stairs and quietly walked over to her husband whose back was to the front window, where Harry looked in with great confusion.

"Who was it?" Hermione asked wearily, she looked worn out.

"No one...just thought...I saw Harry again," Ron sighed and placed his hand comfortingly on Hermione's shoulder, "Sorry, I thought I was over this,"

"I think it is, Ron," Hermione stated, her eyes were wide as she was looking past Ron and through the window, directly at Harry who waved slowly at her.

"What do you mean?" Ron asked sombrely, every time on July 31st he thought he saw his best friend in the distance, but never that up close. Maybe his hallucinations were getting worse.

"I mean, I see Harry, too," Hermione said, and with that Ron turned around and Harry waved more enthusiastically and smiled the best he could, though it was a shaky one.

The front door opened and Harry stood in front of it again, the two looked at him oddly. They didn't know what to make of the situation, if they were going completely bonkers or not, "Hey guys, I erm, I don't know where to start...I erm...bollocks," Harry sighed, he had this all planned out but now as he stood in front of them he had no idea what to do.

"Harry...is that, really you?" Hermione asked incredulously.

"Er, yeah, in the flesh," he chuckled as he rubbed the back of his neck nervously. It was a few more moments of silence before he felt Ron's arms wrap tightly around him, the redhead could be heard sobbing into his best friends head.

"Mate, I thought we lost you!" Ron sobbed, his death grip seemed as though he refused to ever release Harry again.

"Where have you been?" Hermione whispered, still unable to make sense of everything that was suddenly happening as her hand absently rubbed her stomach.

"There's a lot of stuff I need to tell you guys, and it might take a couple hours...and I know you have questions but you've gotta let me explain first," Harry said slowly but firmly.

"Of course, mate!" Ron had sobered up, he released his best friend and had a large smile on his tear-stained face, "Please, come in, please! 'Mione, tea?" he said, and Hermione nodded numbly before making her way to the kitchen.

Inside of their house it was very much alike the Burrow, but the clutter was more organized here. Ron settled next to Harry on the sofa in the living area, he now had a serious look about his face. "Why the hell did you to that to us?" he ordered lightly, he didn't know what to feel. Angry that Harry had disappeared, concerned, confused, how could he even tell this was the real Harry? "And what in Merlin's name are you wearing? Is that make-up? And what's that in your eyebrow..." he trailed off as his eyes scanned Harry's figure and landed on his heavily tattooed arms.

"Are those tattoos?" Hermione had joined them now, setting a tea tray on the coffee table as she herself examined Harry.

"Er yeah," Harry blushed deeply and rolled up his sleeves to reveal them, "Most of them are pointless except this one," he pointed to the one on his left forearm, "It's got all the initials of those who I loved that were lost in the War,"

"Oh Harry, where have you _been_?" Hermione needed answers, she needed to make sense of this all.

"I can tell you, but as I said let me speak first. Please," he looked over at Ron, he was overjoyed to be talking to his friend once again but had no idea how the redhead would take what he was going to explain.

"Talk then, we've been waiting seven years to hear an explanation," Ron slightly snapped, Hermione sent him a scathing look but he shrugged it off. He had too many emotions ranging from joy to anger coursing through him at the moment, he couldn't control them.

"Right, well, I guess I'll start on the last day of the Final Battle," Harry began shakily, but as he continued his words became more firm, "When I killed Voldemort, which I still don't know how I got so lucky to do it, but when I did his power transferred into me. Don't ask me how or why but it just did, I felt it go through me and become apart of me. I felt Tom's pain as he died and I felt the heaviness of becoming an actual murderer that day, you know?" the brunette sighed, reliving all of this was not exactly what he wanted to do but he knew he had to. "I was really scared that I might turn out like he did. That all that power would corrupt me, so I did what I thought was best and I left. I kept my power hidden inside of me, locked up and threw away the key - or so I thought. I travelled across the world for a year, just so that people would lose track of me and I could keep my mind off of everything. After that, I decided to settle in Cambridge. By this point I had reconnected with the Dursley's, they accepted me back in after I explained my detest for magic - which I was lying about!" Harry added quickly, before they could retort angrily at him, "A few months ago I went back to the Dursleys to erm...see them, and I told them that I was once again going back to the Wizarding World. Vernon is still a bit upset by this, but Petunia and Dudley accept me somehow...they've matured a lot," Harry smiled at the thought of this, he was rather grateful to have had actual family standing beside him during the past seven years.

"I decided to return because I've realized who I actually was that gave me all this power, bursting inside of me. Now that I've come to terms with that and learned how to deal with this magical energy with the help of somebody very important to me, I am comfortable enough to be here again. The first few days after the Final Battle, magic was erupting inside of me and every time I cast a simple spell even if it was 'Lumos', it would explode! I couldn't deal with that, I felt too dangerous to be around you! Even the two of yours magical energies near mine unnerved me, I just couldn't..." Harry sighed off, and that was all he really had to say.

"You could have at least told us!" Ron accused, he wasn't too happy about this situation. Seven long years.

"You know I couldn't! You would've talked me out of it and something terrible would've happened!" Harry snapped back, but then took a deep breath and calmed himself, "I'm not a Wizard, okay?"

"Then what are you?" Hermione asked before Ron could jump in hastily again.

"I'm something called a Draiochta, which is what Merlin and the Four Founders of Hogwarts were. They weren't Wizards either, they were Draio's, like me," Harry was uncomfortable with this, but he knew this knowledge was essential to them accepting him back in their lives. If they knew the power he harnessed, they might understand his reason for leaving even if he didn't know the full power he had - he could feel it.

"What the hell is that?"

"It's a magical being made of pure natural magic from the core outwards. Born with or without magical inheritance, Draio's will have magical abilities beyond any purebloods imagination. They are the strongest, most lethal, creatures ever known to this world. Everybody passed Merlin off as a Wizard, since he was the first. But he only gave birth to Wizards, he himself was a Draio," Hermione explained, her eyes were widened fully as she stared at Harry who was blushing under her gaze. "It all makes sense now...some of the things you did, how you defeated Voldemort, how you survived so much and how you do magic spontaneously..."

"Do you understand why I left now?" Harry asked in a low whisper.

"Yes, of course, I just...I can't believe it...did you do the Potion? Did you get the Lotus?" Hermione asked, having read so much she had come across this subject a couple of times.

"Er yeah, I got the Red Lotus. Two of them," Harry blushed again as Hermione's eyes widened even further, understanding what that meant.

"What the hell are you two on about, Lotus'?" Ron grumbled, staring between his wife and his best friend.

"It's a potion that reveals whether or not you're a Draiochta, Merlin made it. If you get a Lotus, depending on the colour it gives you an answer as well as tells you the Draio's strength. Nobody has ever received a Red Lotus,"

"Why not?" Ron was confused, but at least he wasn't angry any longer.

"Well, because it means that even in combination of the Four Founders and Merlin...Harry's stronger than them all," Hermione whispered, still staring at the brunette awestruck. 

Harry shifted uncomfortably as two sets of eyes were examining him now, "I, erm, would rather not talk about this," he said, "It still takes me a lot to get used to,"

"Well, bloody hell mate I'd think so!" Ron's arm found his way across Harry's shoulders, the brunette stiffened but relaxed into his friend, "Just to let you know, you're welcome back. You don't know how happy we are to have you back here. I understand why you had to leave, and I don't blame yah!" he was holding onto him tightly, as if he'd slip away right there.

Hermione nodded her agreement towards Harry, although she was still mulling over everything. "So, what's with this style?" Ron asked curiously after a moment or two.

"Well, you see...I erm, started my own Tattoo and Piercing shop in Cambridge. I'm an artist there and I decided to blend in more with the whole scene. I've really just started to like it..." Harry admitted, he could almost hear Draco in his head chiding him. As if Hermione had read his thoughts, she piped up.

"Who was that important person who helped you?" she asked slowly, "And why couldn't they be us?"

"Erm, about that...I hadn't meant to be found, but one day I was. By somebody who had never stopped looking for me. This person had an entire room filled of pictures, newspaper clippings, and even a Pensieve containing memories of me. They ran into me, really, when visiting in Cambridge and from there on in we developed a...trusting relationship. They mean a lot to me now and without them I would have never realized I was a Draio, and they made me come to terms with it and be able to harness all of my power as if it were second nature,"

"So, who is it?"

"Somebody that tried tirelessly to find me. Somebody that spent years of their life disassociating themselves from society, just to look for me," Harry was grinning at this, he always loved teasing Draco about how viciously the blonde had sought him out...and in the end what it had turned into.

"Who is it, mate?" Ron urged.

"I can't tell you. But I can tell you that we're engaged, and I can also tell you that 'they' is a 'he'," Harry was nervous to see their reactions, but he didn't get what he was expecting to.

"You're...gay? Never knew," Ron sat contemplating this for a moment before he saw Hermione's glare from the corner of his eye, "Not like I mind!" he added quickly, "Just thought I'd recognize it or...well, congrats but who is the lucky bastard? Do we know him?"

"Oh, you know him alright," Harry laughed despite of himself, he knew it wasn't a good situation and that there was the possibility of Ron and Hermione disowning his friendship once he revealed who his fiancé was.

"Why can't you tell us?" Hermione asked, sounding slightly hurt. "Keeping secrets already, you've just come back,"

"I just want to tell everybody altogether," Harry said with firmness.

"Everybody? Who else?"

"I'm going to the Reunion Ball tomorrow, it's on like every year, right?" Harry asked in reassurance.

"How did you even know we had one?" Hermione responded suspiciously.

"Erm, I kinda spied on you guys for the past seven years outside of the window everyday on my birthday," Harry admitted in a rush of words.

"So I'm not crazy?"

"No, you're still crazy...but you're not hallucinating," Harry smirked as Ron slapped him playfully on the arm. Already, things were falling into the place and the three felt as though no time had gapped them whatsoever. That is what true friendship was, it was there forever no matter what, no years of separation could change that.

"Alright birthday boy," Ron began loudly,

"Shush, the kids are in bed Ronald!" Hermione warned.

"Right, sorry," he blushed and then turned to Harry who was smiling brightly now, it warmed up the other two just to see him happy and in their presence - not dead.

"Now, tell me what I've missed," Harry chirped.

With that the three dove into conversation, mostly gossip of their classmates and what had happened to them. Hermione spoke of how she worked for the Ministry from home, Ron was an Auror though there wasn't much activity to monitor any more with all the Death Eaters gone.

"You should've seen Malfoy's face when his Dad was executed," Ron said, shaking his head.

"It was rather horrible," Hermione added in thoughtfully, gazing off into the memory of the days during those executions where her and Ron were present for them all; hoping Harry would turn up.

"He was there? He watched his Father die?" Harry sputtered out, this was new information to him.

"Yeah, it was weird because he seemed bleeding happy about it," Ron paused and shook his head, "What maniac is happy that his Father's dead even if it's Lucius Malfoy?"

"Somebody who hates their Father a whole lot," Harry muttered, he didn't want the two of them to begin bashing Draco already, "Have the two of you seen Malfoy since then?"

"On and off, he never comes to the Reunion Ball - I think he thinks he's too good for us," Ron snorted, leaning down and picking a crumpet off of the tea tray.

"He's got a whole chain of really successful stores, clothing stores. Real fashionable stuff, I actually bought a few dresses from there," Hermione blushed, feeling as though she betrayed some sort of unspoken pact.

"He's still a great big git, that snake," Ron hissed and then turned to Harry curiously, "Why did you ever free him? You defended him...I still don't understand why..."

"Sure, we hated him in school Ron but, would you honestly have been okay with watching him being executed? Or sent away to Azkaban for his entire life? We grew up with him and I wasn't going to let childhood rivalries stand in front of the rest of his life," Harry tried to explain, but he had his own reasons too that they just wouldn't understand.

"You told us he was a lot like you, what did you mean?" Hermione pried.

"I meant that, well...he grew up in a place that he hated to be. He was forced to do things and be somebody he wasn't, just like I was forced to be 'The Chosen One' and 'The-Boy-Who-Lived'. I felt his agony and I pitied him, I couldn't watch him be locked away," Harry shrugged, if they couldn't understand it that was their problem. He would risk his barely reunited friendship to defend and be with Draco any day.

"I guess you're right," Ron shrugged, he really didn't care about Draco, only that Harry was finally back with them.

"Listen, I've gotta get home, I flew here and it's like a three hour fly back. I'll see you guys tomorrow night, I promise," Harry said, standing up and stretching.

"You really promise? I don't want to lose you again, mate," Ron said sadly, voicing out his fear that the moment Harry walked out of their door he would be gone all over again.

"I promise, here..." he held out his hand to Ron who took it questioningly, "I Harry Potter oath myself to Ronald Weasley to arrive tomorrow at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry before the day is over," and with his words a light purple string of magic leapt from his hand and entwined into Ron's. The redhead gasped unexpectedly at the heat that shot up through his arm.

"There, now I can't _not_  show up," Harry grinned and without another word besides a large smile, he left the couple staring after his retreating form. He kicked off from the ground outside and brought the Invisibility Cloak tight over his body, he flew off into the night towards home.

Back in the Weasley residence, the couple stared blankly at one another. "I can't believe he just did a Wizard's Oath without a wand or the others agreeance, or somebody to bind it! Do you think he even has a wand any more now that he's a Dray...whatchamacallit?" Ron asked.

"A Draiochta? They definitely don't need wands, that's for sure," Hermione said, she walked over to her husband and hugged him gently, "I'm just so glad he's back,"

"Me too love, me too. Are you mad at him?" Ron asked in a whisper.

"I thought I would be...but I'm not. I'm just a little shocked, is all,"

"Me too," Ron agreed. "Now, who in the hell do you think could be his fiancé?"


	13. What The Years Have Done To Us

"Maybe it's Seamus?" Ron said, he was running low on people to guess for who in the world could be Harry's fiancé.

"Oi! I'm right here!" chimed the Irishman with a hurt expression on his face, the redhead shrugged and put his hands in his pockets.

"Are you sure he's coming? Are you sure you two just aren't bonkers?" Ginny asked with a raised eyebrow as Neville's arm was loosely around his wife's shoulders. The whole slew of Gryffindor's from their year and the one beneath them were crowded around, talking about the possibilities of Harry's fiancé and most of them still not believing the Weasley's when they said he was alive, well and showing up within the next hour or so.

"I think they are, don't you dearest?" Pansy Parkinson's voice could be coldly heard as the group snapped their attention towards the pug - the years hadn't been kind to her. She was overweight now and married to Vincent Crabbe, still the large one as Goyle, single, stood beside the couple sneering.

"Hah, completely nutters," Crabbe agreed with a nod.

"Sod off, snakes," Ron snapped.

"I can't believe you guys...after all these years you haven't grown up," Hermione huffed, her hormones not doing her any good at the moment.

"Save it, Mudblood," Blaise stepped in front of the two duelling groups with a large sneer, "Your little Saviour ain't coming back and he never will," he put a satisfied smirk on his face.

"Whatever," she merely responded, feeling Ron's arm snake around her hips she just decided to distract herself elsewhere.

"Piss off," Ginny warned to the Slytherin's who shrugged and walked away, satisfied.

"So, any other tossers we know?" Dean Thomas asked, Lavender his wife beside him smiling softly, "There's gotta be more of 'em that went to Hogwarts..."

"He's here," Ron said firmly, his chocolate eyes fell on the door where Harry had just stepped in. He was wearing a very nice outfit and was looking over his shoulder behind himself towards the Entrance Door, he was standing alone as the entire Great Hall went into hushed whispers.

"He's alive?!" "Since when?" "What happened to him?" "Where has he been?!" Nobody moved, except for Ron and Hermione who clasped each others hands and finally the Gryffindors, silent unlike the rest of the crowd, followed them towards the door. When they were halfway across the hall, Hermione noticed the attire Harry was wearing and her mind snapped, she came to a sudden stop - stopping all those walking with her.

"Those clothes...they're...they're, from Malfoy's store," she said.

"So what?" Ron asked, eager to drag her along. But once his eyes travelled back up to the door, there was somebody else beside Harry, holding his hand tightly and sneering at the crowd who broke out into more whispers.

"Ma-Malfoy? He's engaged to _Malfoy_?!" it was Ginny who was speaking, her voice rang out through the hall as all eyes landed on the couple, Draco was glaring directly at the Weasley girl as Harry blushed over at the group of Gryffindors.

"Mr Potter, is that honestly you?" it was Professor McGonagall, the Headmistress of Hogwarts, who approached the couple first.

"Hey there, Professor. I hope I'm not intruding," Harry said as kindly as possible, looking at McGonagall with a gentle smile.

"Definitely not intruding, I just can't believe my eyes! We all thought you were dead!" she exclaimed and then surprisingly, took Harry into her arms with tears in her eyes, "Welcome back, Mr Potter, welcome back!" she cried.

Harry released Draco's hand from his own and awkwardly hugged the witch, slowly starting with the Gryffindor's the Great Hall broke out into a loud applause. The blonde rolled his eyes as the Headmistress turned to him. "It is lovely to see you as well, Mr Malfoy. Is it true what I have heard, the two of you are to be bonded?"

"Yes, it's true. Dunno when, but we're tying the knot, so to speak," Harry smirked as he pulled the blonde into his arms, making a lot of their audience gasp and whisper once more.

"I must say that is certainly unexpected, but then again so was your arrival here tonight. I implore that you enjoy this evening, if you can get away from all the questions. I myself am hardly holding back," Professor McGonagall said wearily, though Harry could tell she was happy, which he was glad for.

"Can I just make an announcement, Minerva?" Harry asked, nodding his head in the direction of the Staff Table, the only table set up in the Great Hall.

"Of course, I think that would be wise," she said with a nod, and with that the three of them walked through the crowd towards the Staff Table. The Gryffindor's frowned feeling slightly neglected as students threw questions this way and that now, loudly yelling at Harry wildly. Where have you been? What happened? Why are you and Malfoy together?

After casting a silent Sonorus charm on himself, Harry coughed and put up his hands. "Silence, please," his voice boomed through-out the Great Hall and everybody obeyed him. He shifted uncomfortably as he looked to Draco for support, but the blonde merely had his arms crossed as he glared out onto the audience. He turned to Minerva, who smiled approvingly at him.

"Yes, I'm Harry Potter. No, I'm not dead and never was. For my own personal reasons that nobody besides those I wish to tell to know, it was impervious that I left the Wizarding World. It shouldn't have been for as long as it was, but I needed my time. No, I cannot answer why. Yes, I am engaged to Draco Malfoy," he directed this at the Gryffindor's, some of them looking indeed very unhappy about this arrangement, "I don't want to answer your questions. For now, just lemme enjoy the night with my friends," and with that Harry took off the charm and smiled once again over at Minerva before grabbing Draco and leading him towards the Gryffindor's.

Hand-in-hand, they came to a stop in front of the group. The Great Hall slowly resumed its festivities, though it was obvious that many people still were whispering and staring at Harry. The brunette shrugged it off, used to it over the years he attended Hogwarts. "Are you kidding me?" Ron whispered in disbelief.

"Er, nope," Harry answered with a smirk in response, they hadn't gone at his throat yet for entering with Malfoy in hand. That was a good sign.

"He's a git! What the hell are you doing with that snake?" Ginny snapped, she didn't like the sights of this more than anybody else. They could all figure why - her deep crush for Harry through-out their years at Hogwarts.

"I love him. If you guys can't accept that, then I'm out of here. But nothing is going to change that, ever. He helped me through so much over the past year, he means everything to me. We're together and that's not going to change, is it Dray?"

"Do not call me that, Potter," Draco warned, especially in public it was even more embarrassing than in private. Harry flashed him a mischievous grin, he couldn't help but smile in response as he pulled Harry closer to him, his arm wrapped around his waist tightly.

"He's drugged you, that's it, isn't it?" Seamus asked wearily, observing the couple just as a lot of other people were.

"I am standing right here you know," Draco drawled, he bit back his urge to snap at each and everyone of the Gryffindor's but he knew Harry needed his support now more than ever.

"No he hasn't drugged me, tricked me, I'm not under the Imperius charm or anything...this is of my own free will. Deal with it, no offence," Harry blushed realizing how mean he did indeed sound as he turned to Ron and Hermione for support. The redhead looked sheepish, but they did step forward.

Hermione held out her hand, "Hey there, I'm Hermione Weasley. Nice to meet you," she said, staring directly at surprised silver eyes.

"I am Draco Malfoy, nice to meet you, too," he smiled sweetly, though most of it was forced Harry silently thanked them.

"This is my husband Ronald, he's a little shy, do forgive him," she looked pointedly at Ron who blushed and stepped foward as well, extending his hand for Draco to shake it.

"Pleased to meet you too, Ron. I was wondering if I could dance with your wife, if that would not be much of a problem?" the blonde asked.

"Uh, are you..." Ron began but Hermione cut him off curtly.

"I would love to dance," she extended her hand to him once more and was led off to the dance floor, many ex-students eyes following them as they began to dance to the music just a foot apart.

"Don't worry, I ain't asking you to dance. You know me, not so good on my feet," Harry winked at Ron who let out a laugh.

"Alright, so I didn't expect you to bring Malfoy and I may not be happy about it, but as long as you're happy mate," Ron smiled and clapped Harry on the back. "Just don't give me any in the bedroom details,"

"Oh, don't worry, I won't," Harry said slyly in a deep tone, making Ron blush madly. "C'mon guys, whose up for some drinks? I'm knackered and need Firewhiskey in me!" the brunette offered, as the Gryffindor's looked calculatingly at him for a moment.

"Yeah, I'm with you! And don't worry about Malfoy, we'll get used to the git after awhile," Seamus said reassuringly to Harry who smiled thankfully at him as the group made their way to the refershment table.

"So whose name are you taking? Potter, or Malfoy?" Dean asked curiously once everybody had a drink. It seemed as though all the Gryffindor's were fine with this, but it also seemed like they were holding back heavily on asking Harry questions that were itching under their skin. Ginny was the only one still scowling in the group, though she held back her anger.

"Malfoy," Harry said with sureness in his voice.

"What, why?" it was Ron that sounded appalled.

"So I don't have to be Harry Potter any more," Harry laughed, "Really, it's his Mother's request and I don't really mind. A name's a name, not much to it really,"

"His Mother's request? You're trying to please Narcissa Malfoy by taking their last name?" Ron sounded incredulous, and everybody else seemed as though they were as well by the looks on their faces.

"She's really quite nice," was Harry's only response before quickly changing the subject, "So, tell me what you've all been up to!" and everybody began trying to talk at once.

Out on the dance floor, Hermione felt herself swooning for the blonde as he moved elegantly on his feet. He smelt heavily of lavender and was dressed to kill. "You're not so bad, Malfoy," Hermione said eventually, striking up conversation as they danced.

"You either. But I would prefer to be called Draco," he added in with a sweet smile, making her almost faint on the spot.

"I'm not going to lie, Harry caught quite the man. I mean, you dressed him up a lot compared to what we saw him like yesterday," Hermione frowned at the thought of it.

"Yes well I cannot have my image darkened by his choice of apparel. Whenever we go out together, I have to dress him," Draco drawled, his silver eyes quickly falling on Harry before looking back at the face before his.

"He looks good. Well, you both look fabulous. You must be the hottest couple of the year in Witch Weekly," Hermione said playfully.

"I have no doubts," Draco grinned down at her, "I just wish he would take out that damned eyebrow piercing," he cursed.

"I bet there's no pushing him,"

"No, he is as stubborn as a mule,"

"That's the Harry I remember," Hermione smiled largely as the two fell silent again and enjoyed the dance.

When they decided to rejoin the rest of the group, they seemed to be talking about the same thing they had been. "You've got loads of tattoos, mate! That's ridiculous!" Dean grinned at them all, as Harry flushed and pulled his sleeves down upon seeing his blonde fiance approach him with a small scowl.

"I can't say I'm ever going to get used to the style," Neville said slowly, looking up and down Harry.

"You have to admit his clothes are nice," Hermione said, smiling over at Draco who returned it sweetly in thanks.

"Yeah, but the tattoos, the piercings?" Ron said with a shiver. "So weird,"

"I like it weird, ain't that right Draco?" Harry smirked devilishly up at the blonde, whose turn it was to blush now.

"I think you need another drink in you, to shut you up," Draco growled and walked off towards the refreshment table away from the embarrassment.

He was then confronted by Pansy, Crabbe, Goyle and Zabini. "Can I help you?" he asked, crossing his arms and looked at the four. They had met a couple times a year, they still all kept in contact and the four knew of his engagement but hadn't known to whom until now.

"Yes, I think you can," Goyle began icily.

"You can begin by explaining to us why the hell are you marrying, let alone associating with dirt like Potter?" Pansy hissed.

"I do not have to answer to the likes of you," Draco responded darkly before pushing past them towards the drinks, filling up two glasses and starting off towards the Gryffindor's. Yes, he would have preferred to stay with his own crowd but he knew that they weren't going to accept his engagement to Harry any time soon. He would give them time, they would come around, not like they were really his friends in the first place.

"Are you saying that Malfoy has a room full from wall-to-wall of Harry Potter memorabilia?" Ron choked out, having remembering that bit of information from the night before. Draco had just rejoined them and glared at the redhead before glaring even harder at Harry.

"You are so not getting your drink now, Potter. And if you think for one moment that I am helping you home tonight when you are wasted, you are _clearly_ out of your mind," Draco snapped icily and chugged half of his own Firewhiskey, "And it is not memorabilia, it was _research_ ," he added in with a glare to Ron who was still rolling around in his seat with laughter.

"Ah, it's so great to be back," Harry smiled at everybody.

"Great to have you here, even if you came with baggage," Dean pointed at Draco who sneered and drank the rest of his drink, picking up the other full one.

"Woah boy, might wanna take it easy 'eh? Who says I'm taking care of _you_ when you're drunk tonight?" Harry said bemusedly.

"Potter, I will have your head...and not the one with that ugly scar on it either," the blonde warned testily, finishing off his second drink in under two minutes before standing up wobbly, getting a head rush and falling back into his seat. The Gryffindor's found this amusing and all began to laugh, but stopped once Draco glared at him.

"Don't worry, he plays nicer after a few more in 'em," Harry promised everybody who laughed.

"I guess I'll be getting those 'few more' then!" Ron smirked and started off to get more drinks for the slightly tipsy blonde Slytherin.

Harry smiled at everybody as conversation started up again, everybody sharing their lives with him. He couldn't have been happier that everything finally seemed to be working out for once.


	14. The Prophecy

It was a hot spring evening. Harry and Draco lay asleep wrapped in one another in their new house, just outside of Cambridge. Between running both of their business, meeting with friends, press conferences that Harry still had to deal with even though it had almost been a year since he was revealed to the Wizarding World and over five months since he got married to Draco, they were both exhausted by the end of the day.

Draco was usually a light sleeper, but tonight as the air was thick and hot he slept soundly as Harry began to thrash around.

The brunette's faded scar began to throb painfully, something he hadn't felt in many years. He groaned in his sleep and released his husband, only to turn onto his side and flip back onto his back, pain shot through his head but he didn't wake. Instead of fell into a trance, his brow furrowed and sweat began to bead down his forehead.

_There was some sort of nothingness. Everything was dark, black, and Harry was shrouded in the middle of it all. He couldn't even see his two hands that he extended out in front of him. Suddenly a light came into view and he walked towards it, he heard a voice calling to him that was unfamiliar._

_It was a female voice, but it sounded rough and almost like a growl from deep within the speakers throat. Harry got closer to the light, he was running at it now and suddenly he felt himself falling. He seemed to land on something soft, he snapped open his eyes to view something absolutely horrific._

_He looked behind himself to see Hogwarts, the untouched castle bathing in the moonlight. And then in front of himself stood the Forbidden Forest, the trees burnt down, the grass charred to its very roots, Hagrid's Hut was a pile of ash. Harry's eyes looked across the entire horizon, smoke still rose into the sky as whatever was left was still burning bright in the night._

_That same voice spoke up once more, this time much more clearly and Harry listened intently, his emerald eyes never leaving the terrifying sight before him._

_"The one who was Chosen unwillingly shall come forward again._

_With his blood and sword in hand he shall bring forth an army;_

_On two feet he will lead those of four legs into battle,_

_He shall be the only one with two-legs amongst the field._

_In the Northern land their blades will clash together,_

_Under the watched stars, the great Beast will fall._

_Without the Pure ones cry, the Light shall not succeed._

_The blood of the mate must be spilt to bring victory-_

_Without sacrifice, the stars will not allow the sun to rise._

_The Draio will be torn between Light and Darkness,"_

Harry was shaken awake, he snapped upwards and glanced widely at a worried looking Draco who had finally woken up due to all the thrasing. "Love, what's wrong?" the blonde asked blearily.

"I-I had a dream...a nightmare...not even," Harry whispered, gathering his thoughts and wits. Then he hissed in pain, his hand coming to his scar.

"Your scar hurts?" Draco asked, clearly concerned and confused.

"Yeah, it hasn't done that since...since, Voldemort,"

"Why would it hurt?"

"It only ever hurt whenever I was near him or...Merlin. Draco, I just think I had a prophecy," Harry turned to his husband seriously and went over the words he had heard just moments earlier in his 'dream'.

"Are you sure?" Draco asked, nervous in the dark as he pulled his lovers body towards him, holding Harry who was stiffened.

"Draco..." Harry whispered, his voice falling off.

"Yes? What is it?"

"I'm scared,"


End file.
